Overwatch: Havoc
by diamondeyes88
Summary: A clone of a former Overwatch agent forced to work for Talon, Tobias must find a way to break free of Talon's clutches and join Overwatch, and give his life a purpose he can be at peace with. But escaping Talon won't be easy, and gaining Overwatch's trust won't be easy either. Rated M for language and violence. (Disclaimer: I do not own Overwatch or it's characters.)
1. Chapter 1: Prologue

This is my first story, told from first person about an Overwatch OC named Tobias I had created not too long ago. The prologue is just a monologue explaining Tobias as a character. If you want, you can skip to the next chapter. Any comments/criticism/ideas are appreciated. (Disclaimer: I do not own Overwatch or it's characters.)

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I remember opening my eyes for the first time.

What a weird feeling that was. From the day I was created, not once had I regained consciousness. It was as if I opened my eyes for the first time after being born. It really was, if you think about it. But the thing was, I wasn't an infant child, I was already a year old.

And physically, mentally; I was almost 30.

I suppose before I go on, I should explain who I am in further detail. It's complicated.

I'm a clone. A carbon copy of a man who already existed. I was the result of a twisted Talon experiment that specialized in human cloning. A majority of Talon's operations are already shady and not well known, but the cloning program was on a whole other level of secretive. Not even high-ranking officers of Talon had knowledge, or at least were able to 100% confirm it's existence. Rumors had spread throughout the lower ranks, but no one could prove it for sure. Only the highest ranking Talon members and scientists knew of it.

Specifically, I'm a clone of an Overwatch agent. Tobias was his name, and supposedly, he was one of the best. He was well known by his fellow Overwatch agents for his skills with firearms, unarmed weapons, as well as hand-to-hand combat. He began his career in the U.S. military, where displayed considerable courage and dedication to his missions, and eventually caught the eye of the military brass. After serving his country for a year and a half, he was invited to join Overwatch, an offer he accepted.

Being able to train and fight alongside some of the world's most skilled soldiers and operatives did wonders for his own abilities. It wasn't before long when his reputation began to precede him; soldiers who met him immediately recognized him as one of Overwatch's most talented agents, rather than who he was as a person.

Tobias was someone reserved; a man of few words. It wasn't as if he was a dark and humorless stoic; he simply didn't have much to say. That being said, he did occasionally crack a joke with agents he got comfortable with. The funny thing is whenever he did talk, the whole room would go silent, and everyone would have a surprised expression on their face. Rumors were spread that he was victim of torture while in the military; they later turned out to be true, but he obviously never spoke of it. It didn't matter at the time, anyway; what mattered is that he was among the best of the best. He was offered promotions that many other agents would die for; and while he appreciated them, he turned most of them down. He was content with being a soldier; content with following orders, rather than giving them. Commander Morrison wasn't the only one who took notice of Tobias' skills; Blackwatch Commander Gabriel Reyes was just as impressed.

Tobias knew little of Blackwatch, but he found out that Blackwatch was the group that did the dirty work, the group that did what the public didn't want to see. Being a member of a group like Blackwatch appealed to him, so when Reyes gave him the offer to join, he gladly accepted. He still continued to fight alongside the other Overwatch agents, but he carried out black ops missions with Blackwatch on the side, with the same amount of skill. If he knew that Blackwatch would betray Overwatch, he might never have joined. He had heard rumors that Blackwatch was planning on rebelling, but he never believed them. But, in the end, Blackwatch betrayed Overwatch, and soon the Petras Act brought an end to Overwatch.

Tobias would never be there to witness it.

A week before the incident at Overwatch's Swiss headquarters, Tobias and a group of other agents went on a mission in Brazil, where they were lead directly into a trap. Luckily, the agents were able to retreat. Most of them, anyway. Tobias was seriously injured during the battle, but instead of his fellow Overwatch operatives coming to save him, they retreated to save themselves, leaving him at the mercy of Talon operatives.

Talon had learned about Tobias skills the hard way; he showed no mercy to any and all Talon operatives he came across. Talon knew he would be a valuable asset, but at the same time, they knew he'd rather die than ever work for Talon. They subjected him to neural conditioning, not unlike the same procedure used to brainwash Amélie Lacroix into becoming the assassin known as Widowmaker. They came close, but his will couldn't be broken. That's when the highly classifed cloning program came into play. They had dabbled in it for some time, experimenting on various animals, but had never actually tried to clone another human. When Tobias came into the picture, Talon's cloning sector knew they had their first human test subject.

Tobias was put into a vegetative state, and placed into a giant tank of liquid. The science behind it is honestly beyond me, but it doesn't matter. What matters is that he was put into a coma, and now that they had their first success (a.k.a., me), they didn't bother waking him up, which know for sure that they were able to do. I know very little of the science behind their cloning technology, and I don't care to know. It's not like I could learn everything about it anyway; it's probably way too complicated for even a professional geneticist to comprehend. I'll give it to Talon; it's impressive. Even identical twins are genetically different in some way. In my case, it's as if the world was a giant computer, and I am a literal copy paste. Physically, I am exactly the same; right down to the smallest freckle or hair follicle. Mentally, it gets a bit complicated. Through the genetic material/DNA they were able to extract from the original Tobias, they were able to create an embryo that was genetically identical to him. Thanks to Talon's insane technology, they were able to speed up the aging process to incredible speeds; to the point were within a year, I was physically and mentally an adult male in my late 20's. During this time (again, thanks to Talon's outlandish classified technology), my brain also developed at incredible speeds, so when I finally opened my eyes and awakened for the first time, I would mentally be very similar to the original Tobias. Any memories he would've remembered if he were awake, I would retain those memories. His intelligience and skills were replicated during my development. I completely skipped my childhood and a small chunk of my adulthood, but it was as if I lived through it all. But despite having the same memories and same intelligience as Tobias did, I knew that I was my own individual. An individual who is a copy paste of a man who already exists, but my own individual nonetheless.

Being a clone is torture. My mind is filled with memories of a life I never got to live. I recall experiencing them, but I know I never experienced them. The original Tobias was a respected soldier who was captured, held against his will, and experimented on. But as for me; I was a clone who never got to have a childhood or a chance to serve my country, despite having memories of experiencing both that still torture me. I was created to serve a terrorist group and kill innocent people knowing that I was working for the bad guys, that Overwatch was who the Tobias before me served, and that they were the good guys; the ones who I want to serve. But I had no choice. On top of that, I never got the opportunity to be my own person. I'm a carbon copy of someone who already exists. I have no family, no blood relatives, for I wasn't the byproduct of two people falling in love; I was the byproduct of a science experiment; it makes me feel illegitimate, like I'm just an artificial human.

I went way off track, but I suppose some explaining was needed as to who I am. Back to the first day I was awake; that's when my story really starts.


	2. Chapter 2: Talon

What happened when I became conscious for the first time? Again, it was strange experience. I had never been conscious before this, and despite being a year old, I was physically and mentally in my late 20's. But I didn't know any of this. I was surrounded by two figures (who turned out to be scientists), and I sat silently as they observed me. It was merely a formality, though; I'm not the first clone they created. I wouldn't find out until later that there were 53 before me.

I was laying completely still on a steel table with a blank expression on my face, but my mind was racing at a thousand miles an hour; trying to process what was happening, where I was, that kind of thing.

"Proceed with test A." the scientist to my right stated.

The scientist to my left nodded and held his hand above my head. He looked down at me and said "Follow my hand with your eyes." He proceeded to move his hand back and forth. After a second of hesitation, I followed his hand back and forth with my eyes without moving my head. After doing this for about half a minute, he pulls his hand away and looks me in the eyes.

"Are you capable of speaking?" he asked. Apparently, there were some clones before me that were mute. I opened my mouth, but no words came out.

"Say something. Anything." the scientist then said, with a hint of desperation in his voice. I didn't know it at the time, but if a clone turned out to be mute (like some were), then they would be considered a failure and disposed of. 54 clones in, the scientists did not want another failure.

"I…I-I" I stuttered. This technically was my first time speaking. Eventually, I managed to spit out a question. "W-where am I?" I asked.

The scientist smirked, pleased that I could potentially be their first success. He ignored my question and looked over to the scientist to my right.

"Doctor, I think we may have our first success." he said confidently. While he was smiling, the expression of the scientist (now confirmed to be a doctor) to my right remained unchanged.

"Remember Clone #0023? We made just as much progress with him as we did with this one, and it was still a failure. Remember the final test?" he said, with little emotion in his voice. The scientist's smirk faded and he looked down. "Right…" he said with a similar lack of enthusiasm. As for me, I had no idea what they were talking about. I was only concerned with the answer to my first question.

"Where am I?" I asked again, this time with little struggle. They both looked down at me.

"All will be explained in due time." the doctor said. I had an endless number of questions, but I trusted that the most important ones would be answered in time, like he had promised.

Up until this point, the room had been mostly dark, save for a giant light above me while I layed on the table. All of a sudden, the giant light turned off, and rows of smaller lights spread out on the ceiling illuminated the room. At the same time, the table began to fold upwards, sitting me upright.

The doctor brought in a large machine and rested the front of my right arm on it. The machine used two straps to restrain my arm, and it extended two robotic limbs with needles. It looked as if I were giving blood, but in reality, the machine was going to tattoo my arm to mark me as a test subject. Using two needles, the machine tattooed a barcode on my arm _(Author's Note: think of Agent 47's barcode from Hitman, only larger and located on the inside of the right arm)_ , with the numbers 1229 and 0054, which represented the date of my creation (December 29th, I guess you could consider it my birthday) and my official designation, Clone #0054.

Once that was finished, they stood me up and gave me a shirt and a pair of shorts, as I was wearing nothing prior. "Put these on. We're going to meet some important people." the scientist said. "They will determine whether or not you will complete your final test. If you do, they will be your new teammates. If not, then we'll be reprimanded for wasting their time. So, please do pass the test."

I had no idea what he was talking about, but I had the feeling that I shouldn't ask any questions. I put on the shirt and shorts, and looked over at the scientist, who was speaking into an earpiece. "Clone #0054 is ready." he said. The door leading into the room opened, and the scientist and the doctor led me out down a hallway. It was so quiet, you could hear a pin drop from a mile away. At the end of the hallway was another door, and when it opened, I was greeted by three individuals.

"As I stated previously," the scientist began, "these three will determine whether or not you complete your final test. If you do, they will be your new teammates." All three of the individuals eyed you down for a minute, and you did the same. "Perhaps I should introduce them." the scientist finally said.

He motioned towards the woman on the far left. She was shorter than you were by quite a bit. She had a purple skin tight suit with a recon visor on her forehead, along with…blue skin?

"This is Widowmaker." the scientist said. Widowmaker looked to me and smirked. " _Bonjour_ , _chérie_." she said.

The scientist motioned towards the hooded man in the middle. His outfit was all black, and his arms were crossed. Even with a barn owl mask covering his face, I could tell he was unamused and somewhat frustrated. Despite being slightly taller than him (by about three inches), I felt intimidated by his presence.

"This is Reaper." the scientist said. Reaper merely grunted in response.

Finally, he motioned towards the small woman in purple on the far right. Half of her head was shaved, the other half covered with long black hair that was purple at the end. She was tapping away at purple hexagrams with her long nails. I was confused by what she was doing, but it didn't really matter. It looked as if she was barely paying attention.

"This is Sombra." the scientist said. She looked up for a second and said " _Hola_." before returning to what she was doing.

"I suppose I should leave you guys to it." the scientist said. Following that statement, he left the room with the doctor. Once the door shut behind me, Widowmaker spoke up.

"Well, _chérie_ , I suppose you have many questions." she said. "Perhaps you're asking yourself where you are, or even who you are…" she then said. She was right. I slowly nodded.

"Well, let's keep it simple, shall we? You are a clone." she said. I was somewhat taken aback by the statement. "In fact, you're the 54th clone of a man known as Tobias." The 0054 barcode tattoo made sense all of a sudden. Still, I had no idea how to process what was going on. Widowmaker continued on. "Tobias was an Overwatch agent. A very skilled one at that. You may…remember some of his operations." I was confused by what she said. "You share the same memories he does. So that's how you would remember his missions." she said. She turned out to be right; upon telling me that, I began to remember his many Overwatch operations. I understood why I had no recollection of embarking on those missions, because it wasn't really me. "Tobias would've been a valuable asset for Talon, but he was quite…disobedient." she said. "Not even our neural conditioning broke him. So, we resorted to…extreme measures." All of a sudden, it made sense.

Widowmaker smirked as she looked at me. Slowly, anger and frustration built up within me, and it showed. All the pieces were falling into place. I knew what was going on now; I was a clone made specifically to fight for Talon, to fight against Overwatch. But I knew that Overwatch were my allies…at least they were Tobias'.

"Motherfuckers…I'll never fight for you. Tobias wouldn't, I won't." I said with pent up anger in my voice. Widowmaker's smirk slowly turned into a frown. "Mmm…I'm afraid you don't have a choice, _chérie_. Did that idiot scientist mention Clone #0023?" she said. I slowly nodded as I remembered his mention of Clone #0023. "Clone #0023 was supposed to be a success. Other clones either had genetic defects or did not live past the embryo stage. He was just like you. Unfortunately, he refused to work for Talon until the very end. We gave him multiple chances, but he simply did not comply. So…we disposed of him. I assume you know what that means."

It all became very simple now. Work for Talon, or die. It wasn't before long when Widowmaker gave me the ultimatum herself.

"You are a Talon operative. Overwatch is the enemy, and you will exterminate them. Otherwise, you will be disposed of."

I sat there in silence for a long time. Even Sombra looked up from whatever she was doing, curious as to what my answer would be. I knew I had no choice but to agree to help Talon, but I did not want to say it.

"What do you want from me?" I asked. She smirked, and I took that as a sign that my answer was sufficient. The lights dimmed, and a series of images began to show up on the wall behind her.

"Overwatch was disbanded not long after we captured Tobias." Widowmaker began. "Unfortunately for us, Overwatch initiated a recall, bringing all living Overwatch agents back into duty. They broke the law, but more importantly, they've become a thorn in our side. That's where you come in, _chérie_." As I slowly took in her words, another question came up in my mind.

"Why did you bother cloning Tobias? He refused to work for Talon, and he was immune to the neural conditioning, so why would exact copies of him be any different?" I asked. "You've been alive for one year, and awake for one day. Tobias lived for 22 years before he was captured. He's lived long enough. You haven't." she responded. I was confused by her words, which prompted her to go on. "He's lived years of his life, you've barely lived a life at all. And it could end just as quickly as it started if you don't comply." she said with a hint of anger in her voice. I was still confused. Regardless, I knew that Widowmaker did not want to continue discussing the topic. So I simply nodded, and let Widowmaker continue.

"As I was saying, Overwatch is a thorn in our side. So, that's where you come in." she said. The images behind her showed pictures of various Overwatch agents. Most of them I did not recognize, and Widowmaker noticed this. "Do you not recognize these people, _chérie_?" she asked. I shook my head. She smirked at me.

"Perhaps you recognize these people." she told me. Suddenly, the picture behind her turned to one of a man you recognized. It was Jesse McCree, who was a member of Blackwatch. My eyes went wide. "That's…McCree…" I said quietly. "But I've never met him…yet I remember him." Widowmaker chuckled. "Tobias knew him. That's why you do." she said. The picture of McCree changed into one of a cyborg. He had black hair and half of his body consisted of red and gray prosthetics. "Genji Shimada…" I said to myself. Widowmaker smirked yet again. "That's not all." she said.

Simultaneously, three more images appeared behind her. The first one was of a woman with short, spiky brown hair and some sort of glowing device on her chest and around her soldiers. The second one was of a large man in blue armor, wielding a giant hammer. The last one was of a blonde woman with some sort of staff that fired off a stream of light, which I recognized as a healing stream. I remembered all three of them. "Lena Oxton…Reinhardt Wilhelm…Angela Ziegler…" I said quietly to myself. At the same time, flashbacks of Tobias' various missions alongside them played in my head. However, I noticed there were two missing.

"What about Jack Morrison? Gabriel Reyes?" I asked. Widowmaker's smirk faded away and was replaced with a frown. Suddenly, I heard Reaper growl ever so slightly. When I looked over at him, he shot daggers at me with his stare. It was enough to send chills down my spine. I looked back at Widowmaker, seeking an answer.

"Jack and Gabriel are dead. They are of no importance." she said sternly.

She looked up at the superimposed photos of the Overwatch agents, then back at me. "These people are not your allies. They are your enemies. You are to eliminate every single one of them." she said. "Not just who you saw, but everyone affiliated with Overwatch. Otherwise, you will face the same fate that every other failed clone did. Understand?"

I paused for a moment. I knew I should've said no. If I died, Talon wouldn't have the asset they were looking for, and I wouldn't have to kill the people who I knew should be my allies. But I was selfish. The original Tobias may have faced death bravely, but I wanted to live. I wasn't willing to sacrifice myself. After a minute or so of silence, I looked at Widowmaker and gave my answer.

"Alright…I will fight for you." I said slowly. Widowmaker smiled at my response. She knew I could barely bring myself to say it, but she didn't care. She, along with the rest of Talon, had the valuable asset they were looking for.

"You've made the right decision." she said, still smiling. Seemingly on queue, a decorated Talon soldier walked in. "He will lead you to Firing Range 2C." she said. The cloning process should've replicated Tobias skills, so shooting practice should be quite easy for you, almost unnecessary. But some time in the range wouldn't hurt."

As she began to leave the room, she stopped right by my side and looked me in the eye.

" _Adieu_ , _chérie_." she said quietly, before leaving. I looked over to Reaper, who, despite being mostly silent during this meeting, spoke for the first time.

"Don't screw this up, Tobias." he said before disappearing into a black mist.

I had been referred to as Clone #0054 up until this point, so being referred to by an actual name felt strange. But what felt even more strange was the phrase itself. "Don't screw this up, Tobias." I remember the original Tobias being told the same thing…by Gabriel Reyes. At the time, I brushed it off as mere coincidence.

"Let's go." the soldier said to me, leading me out of the room. Sombra followed me as the decorated Talon soldier led me out of the room. She looked up at me with a smile.

"Welcome to Talon, _amigo_."


	3. Chapter 3: Training

Training was just as easy as I thought it was. I tackled the firing range first, and no matter what firearm I used, I landed around 90% of my shots, and most of them were headshots. What was strange was that no one else was at the same training area I was. No Talon soldiers, no Talon officers, no one; except for Sombra, who was watching me the whole time. I didn't think much of it at first, but after an hour or so at the range, I got curious.

"Can I ask why you're watching me?" I asked her.

"I'm not supposed to tell you, _amigo_." she said. I glared at her, to which she responded with a smirk.

"But, you know what? I'll tell you anyway." she said. "Talon needs me. The _perdedores_ in charge won't hurt me. I've been assigned to look after you."

I looked at her confused, prompting her to continue. "Even though you've agreed to work for Talon, there's still some…trust issues. Other than me, you're by yourself in the training room. I'm here to make sure you don't go rogue or do anything stupid, like arm yourself with all of these weapons and try to shoot your way out, y'know, something like that."

I chuckled a bit. "Sounds like you're trying to give me ideas."

She chuckled back. "Why should I care if you go rogue? The price'll be your head." she said. "Like I said, they need me. They won't hurt me."

"Sounds like you don't like Talon very much." I said. She merely shrugged.

I smiled again. "I never thought I'd have anything in common with a Talon agent."

"The similarities end there, _amigo_. I'm getting paid quite a bit…you aren't." she said. I frowned and went back to shooting at the training bots. She smirked at my obvious frustration.

"What's wrong? Mad you aren't getting paid?" she said. I remained silent.

"You don't have to like Talon. But try to stay in line." she said. "You're held in higher regard than most soldiers, but you're still a soldier. And when soldiers grow disobedient, they pay a hefty price."

"Held in higher regard…that's why I'm training by myself, instead of training alongside the other soldiers…" I slowly realized.

" _Muy bien_! You're a fast learner!" she said sarcastically. I scowled at her and she smirked again. I put my weapon back on the rack and began to walk off.

"Where do you think you're going?" Sombra asked.

"I've been here shooting for an hour now. There's gotta be something else I can do." I said.

"Not really. I'm supposed to tell Widowmaker when you're ready for your first Talon operation." she responded.

"Then tell them I'm ready." I said.

"Hmm…I don't know, _amigo_. You seem awfully eager to get started. Kinda suspicious, if you ask me." she responded. I glared at her.

"Sombra. Tell her I'm ready." I said angrily.

"Woah, alrighty. No need to get so angry." Sombra said. "I was just messing with you. I was hoping you'd say you're ready. No offense, but I'd rather do something else than just watch you shoot targets all day."

"Then please tell Widow that I'm ready and take me to her." I said.

"Sure thing, _amigo_." Sombra said. She reached to her earpiece and started speaking.

"Tobias believes he's ready. I've seen him at the firing range, I think he's right." After a few seconds, Sombra turned off her earpiece and started to walk to the door, while motioning me to follow. "Let's go." she said.

Once we left the room, we turned right and walked down a catwalk overlooking the other firing ranges where the other Talon soldiers trained. Some had decent aim, others were just plain awful. One soldier unloaded two clips of a semi auto handgun down range and didn't hit a single target. He threw down his weapon in anger and stormed off.

Sombra was already near the end of the catwalk, while I stood still, watching the whole event unfold.

" _Qué estás haciendo_? C'mon." she said. I chuckled and started walking towards her.

"Did you see any of that?" I asked. "I swear, some of these soldiers have the worst aim."

Sombra smirked. "Maybe they could learn a thing or two from you, _amigo_." she said, albeit somewhat sarcastically. She must've thought my criticism of Talon's skills sounded cocky. I simply shrugged.

"C'mon. Widow and Reaper are waiting." Sombra said. She led me down the catwalk and into a conference room. Standing in the room were Widowmaker, Reaper, and two unidentified Talon soldiers. Sombra closed the door behind her.

"Good to have you here, _chérie_." Widowmaker said. "Your first mission with us should be easy, and it should prove to us whether or not the cloning process was 100% successful."

"How so?" I asked curiously.

"If the cloning process was 100% successful, then you will be as skilled as the original Tobias; without any additional training." Widowmaker responded.

I slowly nodded. I was somewhat nervous, and Widowmaker noticed this.

"Nervous?" Widowmaker asked. Obviously I was, but I didn't want to admit it, so I just shrugged.

"Don't be." Widowmaker said sternly, catching you off guard. She followed it up with a smirk. "You'll be fine if you do what you're told." I slowly nodded.

"Can we get to it already?" Sombra asked impatiently. One of the Talon soldiers glared at her.

"You're not a part of this mission, Sombra. Leave." he said sternly. Sombra glared back at him. Widowmaker looked over to the soldier.

"Shush. You're not giving commands, _imbécile_." she said. The soldier sighed, clearly annoyed.

"He is right. We do not require you for this mission, Sombra." Reaper said, catching everyone off guard. Even Widowmaker was somewhat taken aback by the man's speech, for he spoke so infrequently. He gestured towards the door, signaling to Sombra that she had to leave. She rolled her eyes and sighed.

"Good luck, _amigo_." she said to me as she left. I was somewhat disappointed that she wasn't going be a part of the mission, but I knew I didn't have a say in who tagged along and who didn't, so I kept quiet about it.

"Here's the plan," Widowmaker began. "It should come as no surprise to any of you that Overwatch's numbers are incredibly low. I do not know their exact numbers for sure, but regardless, they still pose a major threat; even if Talon has strength in numbers. Due to a lack of UN funding, resources such as ammunition have been harder to come by for Overwatch. Still, some ammunition shipments come in overseas." A screen lowered below her, showing a video of an ammo shipment traveling on a boat on the water. Widowmaker towards me.

"Are you connecting the dots, _chérie_?" Widowmaker asked. I quickly realized what the mission was. We were going to attack an ammunition shipment. I nodded.

"So, are you with us?" Widowmaker asked. Her question pissed me off a little bit, because I knew I had no choice. I let out an annoyed sigh.

"Yes…I am." I slowly said.

"It doesn't sound like you're with us." Widowmaker said.

"Notwithstanding my obvious reluctance, I am with you, because I don't have a damn choice." I said, glaring at her.

"No, you don't." Widowmaker said with a smile that only made me more angry.

I let out another sigh. I already hated it at Talon, and I hadn't even experienced it for very long. Widowmaker's smile faded.

"Tomorrow, you will meet us at Hanger 3A at 2100 hours." she said. "Sombra will lead you there."

"Even though she isn't coming along…" I muttered under my breath sarcastically.

"Is that backtalk I hear, _chérie_?" Widowmaker asked while glaring at me. I glared back at her.

"Yes, yes it is." I said. "And what the fuck are you going to do about it?"

Widowmaker took a few steps back, before chuckling. I looked at her with immense confusion.

"You've got a lot of nerve talking to me like that." she said. "Most soldiers here won't even look at me out of fear. _Peureux enfants_." She walked closer to me and stared me directly in the eyes. Her gaze was piercing.

"Backtalk all you want, Tobias." she said. "That doesn't change the fact that you're working with us."

After that, she walked out of the conference room with Reaper following her. The two Talon soldiers soon left afterwards, but not before one stopped beside me and looked at me.

"I'm surprised you didn't get shot." he said. The other one nodded in agreement, then chuckled. "What kind of dumbass talks smack to Widowmaker?" he said. I looked at him angrily.

"The same dumbass that'll break your arms if _you_ talk smack to _me_." I said. His face was covered, but I could tell I scared him from the way he speed walked out of the room. The first Talon soldier looked at me and merely shaked his head before leaving. I sighed and stood still for a moment, processing what was going on. I know I didn't have a choice, but the fact that I was to attack Overwatch in any sort of way still ate away at me inside.

As I left the conference room, I noticed a small purple device in the corner of the hallway. As I walked over to it to investigate, Sombra appeared out of nowhere on top of the device in a flash of purple, as if she teleported.

"BOO!" she yelled. I fell over on my back, gasping for air, while Sombra laughed.

"H-how did you…" I asked, still startled from her sudden appearance.

"It's called a translocator, _amigo_." she said. I had no idea what a translocator was at the time, though I inferred that it was some sort of teleportation device.

"Translocator, huh…" I said as I got up to my feet.

"What can I say? A girl just has to have the latest tech." Sombra said.

Once I was up on my feet, I looked at her curiously.

"So…what do you want?" I asked.

"I'm taking you to your room." she said. I looked at her confused. "2100 hours tomorrow, right? It's 2300 hours now, so I assume you would want to, y'know, _sleep_." I nodded my head and began walking down the hall, then looked back at her.

"How did you know about the mission time?" I asked.

"What, were you expecting me _not_ to eavesdrop?" she said. I rolled my eyes and began walking as she laughed. "I heard most of your conversation, including when you mouthed off to Widowmaker. Didn't I warn you to stay in line, _idiota_?"

"This _idiota_ doesn't really care what she'll do." I said. "She won't do anything, anyway. She knows I don't want to work for Talon, but she also knows I don't have a choice. She won't discipline me; working for Talon against my will is painful enough, and she knows that. She'll just sit in the background and revel in my self-loathing. Sadistic asshole."

"Damn, you really hate Talon, don't you?" she asked.

I raised my eyebrows and nodded, acknowledging what she said. After a few moments of silence, she changed the subject.

"I also heard you act all tough guy to those soldiers." she said with a smirk.

"I don't normally like being a tough guy, but I'm really at my wit's end." I replied. "At least the original Tobias didn't. But I am a clone of him, after all…"

There was a hint of sadness in my voice. Sombra looked up at me, before looking forward and shaking her head. I could tell by her expression that she wanted to empathize with me, but she couldn't. _Hard to empathize with a lab experiment, I know_ , I thought to myself.

Eventually we made it to my room. Just like how the shooting range I practiced in was separate from the others, my room was separate from the other Talon soldiers' quarters. It was slightly more high-end as well, with a nicer bed as well a couch and a small TV. But in the top corner of the room was a security camera. It pissed me off, but I knew why it was there.

"Here's your room, _amigo_." she said. "More high quality than most other soldiers. Lucky you."

I sat on the edge of the bed and ran a hand through my hair. Sombra looked at me impatiently.

"You're welcome, by the way." she said. I looked up at her, confused. "I didn't have to lead you to your room. You could've found it all by yourself. So, you're welcome." I let out an annoyed sigh.

"Thanks." I muttered.

"Jeez, no need to be so grumpy." she said. Following her statement, I looked up at her angrily. She was somewhat taken aback.

"Woah, what are you gonna do? Break my arms?" she said, referring to my previous threat towards the Talon soldier. I rolled my eyes and grunted before laying down on the bed. She laughed at my apathetic response.

"Later, _amigo_." she said before walking out and closing the door behind her.

I tried to get some sleep. It felt strange; it was a fairly short day, and here I was, trying to fall asleep. _I've been comatose my whole life so far, I've been awake for barely any time at all, and now I'm trying to go unconscious again_ , I thought to myself. Sure enough, sleep didn't come easy. I laid awake in my bed for a good hour before eventually drifting off.


	4. Chapter 4: The Offer (Flashback)

Going into this story, I had the idea of flashback chapters that tell the story of the original Tobias and his journey through Overwatch, pre-disbandment. These chapters begin after a previous chapter has ended with Tobias falling asleep or unconscious for any other reason. All flashback chapters are italicized, and they will appear every two to three chapters.

* * *

 _My heart was pounding out of my chest._

 _I had just been called down to the administrative office. There was no explanation as to what was going on, just that my presence had been requested. Usually if this happened to someone, it meant that person was in trouble. As I walked down the dimly lit hallways, I tried my best to remember if I had done anything that would've gotten me in trouble, but my disciplinary record up to this point was damn near spotless._

 _The administrative office door was propped open slightly. I took a deep breath and knocked twice._

 _"Come in!" my sergeant yelled. Upon opening the door, I saw my sergeant and another man sitting together, who both immediately stood up once I entered. The other man had blue armor, along with blonde hair and a rugged face. It wasn't until I saw the Overwatch insignia on his shoulders and chest when it registered in my mind who it was._

 _"Hello, soldier." he began. "My name is Jack Morrison; Strike Commander of Overwatch." He held out his hand to shake mine._

 _"It's an honor to meet you, Commander Morrison." I said as formally as possible. I tried to keep my composure as best as I could, but it was blatantly clear how nervous I was._

 _"I suppose I should explain why I am here, and more importantly, why you're here." he began. "I don't know whether you've realized it or not, but your superiors have paid special attention to you these last few months. You have proven yourself as an exceptional soldier, as well as an exceptional strategist. Your sergeant has informed me that your skills appear to surpass those of the other men in your unit by quite a bit. For the past week or so, I've been evaluating your performance in combat, and you seem like a good fit."_

 _It was clear what he was implying, but I was still pretty nervous, so I didn't catch on at first._

 _"A good fit for what, sir?" I asked. Jack smiled and gave me a confident look._

 _"Tobias, how would you like to become an Overwatch agent?" he said._

 _My heart stopped at that point. I had always looked up to Overwatch, but never in my life did I think I would get the chance to work with them._

 _"I-I…uhh…" I stuttered. Jack chuckled at my response._

 _"I know it's a big offer." he said. "Take some time to think about it. Of course, you don't have to say yes, if you don't want to."_

 _"No, I…I'd love to join Overwatch!" I said excitedly. Jack laughed at my sudden enthusiasm._

 _"That's what I like to hear. Overwatch would love to have you aboard." he said. "I'll give you thirty minutes to pack your belongings and bid farewell to your fellow soldiers. After that, meet me at the airfield. Giant blue VTOL, can't miss it." He turned to my sergeant and gave a salute before leaving._

 _"An agent of Overwatch, eh?" my sergeant said, patting me on the soldier._

 _"Yeah, I know." I said, still taking in what I had agreed to. After a few moments of silence, my sergeant spoke up._

 _"Well, I'm gonna miss you, Tobias. You always were one of my best soldiers." he said while shaking my hand._

 _"Thanks." I said. "I'll miss you too, sarge." After we gave each other a salute, I left the office and began speed walking to my quarters with the biggest smile on my face. Once I had gotten outside, I sprinted towards the barracks. I bursted through the door, grabbing everyone's attention._

 _"Guess what? I'm gonna be an Overwatch agent!" I exclaimed. I got mixed reactions from my squadmates. Some were excited for me, others didn't seem to care. Whether it was out of jealousy or they didn't consider my news worth their time, it didn't matter. I gathered my belongings, which didn't consist of much. All I had were a small number of medals, some family photos and letters, and a camera that I didn't bother using as I had mostly used my phone for pictures. I bid my squadmates farewell and left the barracks. Jack had given me thirty minutes, but it hadn't even been ten before I left for the airfield._

 _It didn't take long to find Jack's VTOL, as it had the Overwatch logo emblazoned on both sides, as well as it being colored bright blue compared to the steely gray color that most of the aircraft at the base consisted of. Jack stood outside the VTOL, with two Overwatch soldiers surrounding him._

 _"That was quick." Jack said with a smile. "You ready to come back to Overwatch?" I nodded confidently._

 _"Then let's waste no time." Jack said. He led me onto the VTOL, and the two soldiers followed. Once aboard the VTOL, I found myself spacing out, lost in thought. I was excited, yet somewhat nervous as well. Overwatch was very different than the military life I had grown accustomed to._

 _"Hey, snap out of it." Jack said with a smirk, snapping his fingers in front of my face. "Nervous?" he asked._

 _"Yeah, a little." I replied._

 _"You'll do fine." Jack said reassuringly. I relaxed a little bit after that._

 _The flight back to Overwatch's headquarters was mostly silent, with Jack occasionally telling a story or two. One of his stories was interrupted by a call from Winston, who was a scientist for Overwatch. Me and the two other soldiers listened to what he had to say._

 _"Jack, we did it!" Winston exclaimed. Jack looked confused._

 _"You…did what, exactly?" he said._

 _"We found a way to keep Oxton from disappearing!" Winston said excitedly. Jack's confused face turned to one of excitement._

 _"That's amazing! How'd you do it?" Jack said._

 _"Well," Winston began, "I don't want to bore you with the science of it, so I'll keep it simple. We built a device called the chronal accelerator, which will keep her anchored in the present." Jack's look of excitement never faded._

 _"Do you think she'll be fit for active duty?" Jack asked curiously._

 _"As a field agent? I'm not sure." Winston said. After a moment of silence, he sighed and continued._

 _"Perhaps…but only after proper training, of course." he said. "In the end, though, it's up to her."_

 _"Sounds good, Winston." Jack said. "We'll discuss it further when I return." He hung up and looked to me while chuckling._

 _"Well, that's another squadmate we'll have to introduce you to." he said. I looked at him, confused. I had no idea what Jack and Winston were talking about._

 _"Heh, I should explain." Jack said. "Lena Oxton is a British pilot, one of the best out there, in fact. We brought her in to test out an experimental plane of ours, known as the Slipstream, which had teleportation capabilities. Unfortunately, during a routine test flight, the Slipstream malfunctioned, and Lena disappeared. She eventually reappeared, but the effects of the malfunction remained, so she would disappear for hours or even days at a time. Her condition would later come to be known as chronal disassociation, meaning that her molecules were desynchronized from the flow of time."_

 _I was in shock._ Teleporting planes? Disappearances? Molecules? Time flow? What am I getting myself into? _I thought._

 _"Thankfully, as we just learned, our very talented scientist Winston created the chronal accelerator, and now Lena can remain anchored in the present." Jack said. "If she agrees to undergo training, she will be an agent just like you."_

 _I nodded as I took in all of the information given to me and sat down. Despite my previous thoughts, I had no regrets. I still looked forward to joining Overwatch's ranks._

 _The rest of the flight was mostly silent. After the call from Winston, we still had a few hours before we reached Overwatch's headquarters. Before I knew it, I was dozing off in my seat. Jack noticed this and smirked._

 _"Tobias…" he said. "Wake up. Wake up, Tobias…"_

"…wake up…Tobias, get up!"

I quickly sat up in bed and looked over. Sombra was the one trying to wake me up.

"Get up, _amigo_." she said. "The base is under attack!"

My eyes widened. I immediately threw myself out of bed.

"Under attack? By who?" I asked. Sombra glared at me.

"Who do you think?" she said, before leaving. After a few moments, I realized who it was.

Overwatch had arrived.


	5. Chapter 5: Overwatch's Arrival

I had wasted no time in throwing myself out of bed, but once I did, I paused. A flurry of questions began flowing through my mind. _How did they find us? How many of them are there? Will they recognize me? Should I even fight back?_ I thought to myself. I found myself pondering the last two questions in particular. _Maybe they'll recognize me, maybe they'll understand I'm not fighting for Talon willingly_ , I thought. I frowned as another thought came into my head. _I'm not the real Tobias. I'm just a clone. How would I explain that to them? If they knew that, would they still accept me?_ My mind was racing at incredibly high speeds. I eventually decided that I would have to fight them. As much as I wanted allegiance with Overwatch, I knew that I couldn't turn against Talon this early alone, and even if I did, there was no guarantee that the Overwatch agents would support me.

My train of thought was interrupted when the alarms finally began to go off. Red lights flashed all throughout my room and throughout the hallway outside. I rushed to the drawer in my room, hoping to be able to wear something other than the t-shirt and shorts I was given yesterday. Thankfully, Talon had stocked the drawer full of clothes in anticipation of my arrival; at least in anticaption of the first successful clone's arrival, that is. I grabbed a pair of cargo pants and a gray zip up hoodie, and put on a pair of combat boots that were placed underneath the drawer.

I sprinted down the hallways until I arrived in a catwalk with windows overlooking the exterior of the Talon base. There were numerous Talon soldiers firing at a group of Overwatch soldiers. I sat there for a moment, observing the agents. _Thank God I don't recognize any of them_ , I thought to myself. I immediately shook that thought out of my head and damned myself for even thinking like that. It doesn't matter if I recognize them or not; they were the good guys, and I would have to fight them. I was their enemy, at least for now.

Proving my point that I was seen as an enemy, once the group of soldiers had suppressed the group of Talon soldiers they were engaged in combat with, one of them spotted me watching them through the window. He drew everyone else's attention to me and they began firing.

I ducked and started running towards the end of the catwalk. The hailstorm of bullets shattered most of the glass, and despite being grazed a couple times, I wasn't seriously injured. I rushed down to the shooting range and grabbed a semi-auto rifle, along with a few ammo magazines, and a large tactical blade for close quarters, which was almost long enough to be a sword. I quickly strapped on a combat vest and rushed outside.

The sounds of gunfire were deafening. I ran towards a group of Talon soldiers who were behind cover, under heavy fire.

"About time you showed up!" one of them yelled.

"Can it, dickhead!" I yelled back. I leaned over the cover and fired at the Overwatch soldiers. I managed to pick off two before returning to cover.

"Is Widowmaker coming to provide sniper support?" one of the soldiers asked.

"How the fuck should I know?" I replied. "Right now we don't have any extra support, and that's means we're on our own. So shut the hell up and keep firing!"

"Christ, what's your problem?" he said, referring to my agitated demeanor. I didn't answer him, but there was a reason as to why I was agitated, other than the fact that I was getting shot at. It was because I was killing Tobias' allies against my will. And for that, I believe I had every reason to be pissed off.

I looked up towards the roof of the main building, where I saw Widowmaker fire a venom mine from her wrist towards to Overwatch soldiers. The venom mine detonated near a group of three, sending them into coughing fits. I fired at and killed all three of them in seconds.

Me and the other soldiers initially thought we had gained the upper hand, until a grenade came rolling near us. I was the first to notice it, but I didn't alert the others. Instead, I began sprinting away, and only when the others saw me running did they notice the grenade. They didn't get away in time, though, and the grenade killed them instantly. I felt no guilt over not alerting them.

I ran inside a building, where I encountered three Overwatch soldiers looking at data files on a large computer.

"Talon is planning an attack on Ammunition Shipment 4!" one of them yelled into an earpiece. "I repeat! Talon is planning an attack on-" his statement was cut off once I put a bullet into his head. After he was shot, I turned to fire at the others.

 _Click, click, click_. My magazine was empty.

The two remaining soldiers pointed their guns at me, to which I immediately dropped my own and held my hands in the air. They both slowly walked towards me. Suddenly, all of the lights shut off, and the computer screen displayed a glowing purple skull. This distracted the soldiers long enough for me to pull out my tactical blade and slash them to death. I looked down at their bodies, cut up and soaked in blood, with a couple of missing limbs as well. As I took in the sight of their corpses, I froze. The realization of what I had just done crashed down upon me like a ton of bricks.

As I stood there, looking down in regret, a nearby door was blasted open by an explosion, followed by two Overwatch soldiers. They had attempted to run for cover, but they were quickly gunned down. Emerging from the smoke was Reaper and Sombra. Reaper walked up to one of the soldiers and swiftly finished him off with a shot to the head. Sombra looked towards the screen with the purple skull and looked back at me.

"Hey, you're welcome, _amigo_." she said. "Do you not know how to say thank you?" I looked away and gave her the middle finger, which she merely laughed off.

"Widowmaker, do we have the upper hand?" Reaper spoke into an earpiece.

" _Oui_." she responded. "They appear to be calling a retreat. Cowards." Reaper chuckled ever so slightly. He looked towards me and Sombra.

"Come." he said, before walking out the door. Obviously not wanting to anger him, we followed him closely.

Once we got outside, we saw the remaining Overwatch soldiers hastily board a VTOL. Reaper, Sombra and Widowmaker all fired at them, but I had no weapon. I wouldn't have fired at them anyway.

"Well, that's that." Sombra said.

"Casualties?" Reaper said. Widowmaker looked around, then back at him.

"Hard to tell, but Talon casualties appear to outweigh Overwatch ones." she said in response. Reaper growled angrily and looked towards me. He grabbed me by my hoodie and pulled me close. His soulless glare scared the hell out of me.

"I knew you lied. You aren't loyal to Talon." he said angrily. I returned the glare.

"What the hell makes you think that?" I said loudly.

"If you were loyal to Talon, you wouldn't have gone easy on Overwatch." he said. "There would be fewer casualties on our end, and there'd be fewer survivors on their end."

Now I was shouting. "You think I went easy on them? Did you not see the mangled corpses in the computer room?" Reaper tilted his head eerily and growled at my response. "Those soldiers can't have an open casket funeral thanks to me. The last thing I did was hold back. Don't give me that bullshit." I aggressively poked his chest as I shouted at him. He let go of me and took a few steps back. Then, out of nowhere, he punched me in the face. The force of his fist was enough to knock me backwards. He squatted down next to me.

"Watch yourself, clone." he said quietly.

"Fuck you." I said while wiping blood away from my nose. He stood up and growled angrily. He began to walk away, but not before kicking my leg in frustration. Widowmaker shook her head and followed him. Sombra helped me up on my feet.

"Honestly, you brought that on yourself, _amigo_." she said. I didn't respond. "But still, I've never seen anyone stand up to Reaper like that. I don't know if you're brave or stupid." I chuckled.

"Both." I said quietly.

The rest of the day was spent disposing of the bodies and cleaning up rubble. Reconstruction would be held off until the next day. On my way back to my room, I passed Reaper while walking down a hallway. I glanced over at him, but he kept looking forward while remaining completely silent. Any and all facial expressions were completely hidden behind his mask, but I knew deep down that he wanted to kill me. Hell, once I passed him, I even glanced behind me to make sure he wouldn't pull out one of his Hellfire shotguns and murder me.

Once I arrived back in my room, I pulled out a laptop from under a table and opened it up. The Talon logo appeared on the screen before going to the desktop. Since it was a Talon-made laptop, my options were limited on what I could do. The internet browser filtered out the majority of results upon searching…pretty much anything. I couldn't even open the music application. That frustrated me a little bit, as I was in a bad mood from the day's prior events, and music would've helped to calm my nerves. I sighed and ran my hand through my hair. Suddenly, I heard the door open. I knew exactly who it was before I even looked towards the door.

"Nice _computadora_ you've got there, _amigo_." Sombra said as she entered. I sighed again. "You do know I'm a professional hacker, right?"

I looked up at her curiously. She pointed at the laptop with her long fingernails.

"It's obvious that Talon's got a lot of restrictions on that _pedazo de mierda_." she said before holding out her hands. "Give it to me for a sec." I handed it to her and she held it up with one hand. She waved the fingers on her other hand before typing away on the laptop with a smirk. After about thirty seconds, the white light on the back of the laptop began to glow purple. She handed it to me with a smirk.

" _Demasiado fácil_. Too easy." she said. She began to walk out before stopping in the doorway. Upon looking through the computer, I saw that the internet browser no longer filtered out results upon using it's search feature. I also noticed that the music application wasn't blocked anymore. I looked back up at Sombra, who was about to say "you're welcome" before I interrupted her.

"Thanks." I said. She smiled and remained silent.

"What?" I asked, questioning her silence. "Oh, wait, sorry. _Gracias_." She scoffed and rolled her eyes, making me laugh.

"All jokes aside, why are you here?" I asked.

"I just came to remind you that we have another meeting in about three hours." she said. "I don't know what it's about, so don't ask." I nodded in acknowledgement.

"Enjoy your _nuevo y mejorado computadora, amigo_." she said before leaving.

I set an alarm on the computer that would go off in two and a half hours as a reminder of the meeting. Afterwards, I went to the music application and saw that it allowed me to stream music. I knew it wasn't for free, but I figured Sombra had her ways of getting it for me for free. I scrolled through all of the genres, but I couldn't find any artists that appealed to me. I began to zone out, and I had a minor flashback of the original Tobias listening to music. I snapped out of it and found an artist he had listened to. Sure enough, when I turned it on, I immediately enjoyed it. I let the music play in the background before I went to the internet browser. I typed "Overwatch" into the search bar, and a news article immediately popped up.

" _Overwatch Rumored To Still Be Operating Under Secrecy_ " it read. I scrolled down and read the paragraphs.

" _The international strike team Overwatch, which had operated for years with UN support before it's dismantlement as a result of the Petras Act, is rumored to still be operating, sources say. Former Overwatch operatives have been spotted combating Talon soldiers following the latter group's public acts of terrorism. Such activity is liable to prosecution under law._ "

Upon scrolling down further, a paragraph recapped the events that led to Overwatch's downfall.

" _Overwatch ultimately met it's end after Strike Commander Jack Morrison and Blackwatch Commander Gabriel Reyes were killed in an explosion at Overwatch's Swiss headquarters. Prior to this, Blackwatch (the secretive black ops division affiliated with Overwatch) was revealed to the public, followed by multiple accusations of human rights violations. The Petras Act, passed by UN officials, was the final nail in Overwatch's coffin._ "

Below the final paragraph was a photo of eight Overwatch agents together, presumably in happier times. I recognized the original Tobias as the man on the far left, followed by Lena Oxton, Jack Morrison, Ana Amari, Reinhardt Wilhelm, Angela Ziegler, and Winston on the far right. All of them had their arms around each other with bright smiles. I sighed and stared at the photo with a hint of sadness within me. It was sadness that came from the fact that Overwatch really was like a family; a family that did quite a bit of good for the world, before being torn apart. While staring at the photo, I began to stare specifically at Tobias. I didn't know where he was, as his location was classified. All I knew was that he was in Talon's captivity, he was comatose and had been for years, and that I'm technically all that's left of him, as I carry his DNA and genetics.

I laid back in bed and listened to the music I had chosen. I was lost in thought. Once again, my mind was racing incredibly fast. I thought about the past I never got to experience, the life I'm living as someone else in the present, and whatever might happen in the future. I hoped to escape Talon and join Overwatch, as I knew deep down that it was what Tobias would've wanted, but I also knew that it wouldn't be possible at this point in time. Still, the scenarios of what would happen played out in my mind. Would they accept me, knowing I was affiliated with Talon? Would they recognize me as Tobias? Would they understand that while I am technically him, I'm not? That I'm just a clone, an exact copy, a lab experiment? My mind has a tendency to always think of the worst case scenario, so I thought of everything that would happen if the answer to those questions was no. But then, a question popped up in my head that, for some reason, never came up before;

What will happen if the original Tobias reawakens? What happens if we meet? What would he think if a clone of him was living his life as a Talon soldier?

My train of thought was interrupted by the alarm on the computer. I sat up and closed the laptop. I put on fresh clothes, as the ones I were wearing were dirty from the battle that took place earlier in the day. It was the exact same outfit; a pair of cargo pants and a gray zip-up hoodie. I jogged down the hallways to the same conference room where I was first recruited for the Overwatch ammunition shipment attack. Widowmaker and Reaper were there waiting for me. I walked in and closed the door behind me.

"What's this about?" I asked, sounding slightly disinterested.

"We need to discuss the ammo shipment attack." Widowmaker said flatly.

"What is there to discuss?" I asked. "I thought we already talked about it."

"Well, after Overwatch paid us a visit, Talon has suffered many casualties." she began. "This attack on the shipment is no longer a routine operation. Rather, a chance to avenge the fallen." I scoffed at her.

"You don't care whether or not some infantry were killed. Don't lie to me." I said.

"Regardless of who died and how highly I may or may not think of them, Talon was still attacked, something that we don't take kindly to." she said. Following her statement, she glanced over at Reaper, prompting a response.

"Talon has taken prisoners in the past." he said. "We've considered it for this mission. Not anymore. Leave no survivors." His voice made his statement all the more sinister. Widowmaker looked back at me.

"We're scheduled to leave very soon." she said. "Anything to add, _cherie_?" Normally, I wouldn't want to help Talon any more than I had to. But here, it seemed like Talon was overlooking a crucial detail; I couldn't help but point it out.

"Overwatch are smarter than you make them out to be." I said. "Following their attack, it's very likely that they'll be expecting an act of revenge such as this." Widowmaker looked at me curiously.

"What do you mean, _cherie_?" she asked.

"What I'm saying is that they'll most likely be more prepared. The ammunition shipment will have more men guarding it." I said. "We need to bring along more of our own. They're going to be more prepared, then we need to be to." Widowmaker gave me a sly smirk.

"You've been talking to Sombra quite a bit." she said. "Is this an excuse to bring along your _petite amie_ , _cherie_?" She was clearly trying to anger me, and it worked. I glared at her intensely.

"No, it's me trying to be smart tactically. _You_ of all people should know this." I said angrily. Widowmaker chuckled at me.

"Mmm…getting defensive, are we?" she said. My angered glare never faded. "Yes, Tobias, I am aware of our need for extra personnel. I will make sure we have extra men along with us, _and_ I will allow your _précieuse petite amie_ Sombra to come along as well." The last part of her statement was said in a mocking tone, to which I responded with an eye roll. She began to leave the room, but once she got through the doorway, she turned around to face me.

"Hangar 3A. Fifteen minutes. In case you forgot." she said. I didn't forget, so I had no need to respond. Reaper also left the room, but as he walked out, he bumped into me. He growled ever so slightly. Whether or not it was intentional, it only angered me further. It seemed like as more time went on, the more desperate I was to break away from Talon. But I was determined to not let this desperation overcome me. I had to play my cards carefully; I had to wait until the time was right.

I left the conference room and walked back to my room. As I walked in, Sombra was scrolling through my laptop. She gave me a sly look, expecting me to be upset that she was going through it, but I had nothing to hide. She gave me a confused look.

"Aren't you mad at me?" she said.

"Nope." I said without even looking at her. "I've got nothing to hide."

"Not even your…obsession?" she said with a pause for dramatic effect. I looked at her confused. "There's an awful lot of searches regarding Overwatch, _amigo_." I understood what she meant now.

"Yeah, there are." I said. "I thought I made my distaste for Talon clear, and my preference when it comes to who I'd actually prefer to work for. Unfortunately, I don't have much choice at the moment." Sombra closed my laptop and stood up. Before she could say anything, I continued to speak.

"Anyway, I'm glad you're here." I said. "We've decided that we need more personnel for the ammo shipment attack, so now you're coming along. I was hoping I wouldn't have to track you down to tell you. We're leaving in about ten minutes, so let's go." I walked out and she followed. As we neared Hangar 3A, a question came up in my mind.

"Say, how much _does_ Talon pay you, anyway?" I asked curiously.

"More than you, _compañero_." she said with a smirk.

"Well, no shit." I said with frustration in my voice. She chuckled before giving me an actual answer.

"They pay me just enough to keep me on board." she said. "Wish they'd give me a raise, but whatever. It's enough to make a living off of. That's why I haven't jumped ship yet." I nodded my head, but I was admittedly rather jealous. At this point, I had no need for money, as Talon had a tight clamp on everything that I did. Still, the idea of not getting paid ticked me off.

Once we walked into the hangar, we found Widowmaker, Reaper, and twelve Talon soldiers near a dropship. Widowmaker approached us once we got close.

"Glad you could join us, _chérie_." she said, looking at me. "And you as well, Sombra." I looked over to her, and she merely raised her eyebrows in acknowledgement. Widowmaker looked back at the Talon soldiers and back at me.

"Our spies have informed us that our targeted ammunition shipment has in fact fortified itself with extra personnel." she said. "You were right, Tobias. Good advice." It appeared as if she was trying to praise me, but I could tell that it was insincere. "I thought you didn't want to help Talon." I glared at her.

"I don't. But I don't have a choice. We established this already." I said sternly.

"I am well aware." she said with a smirk. "Come." she said in a loud tone as to get everyone's attention. As I boarded the dropship with everyone else, I thought about the things that Widowmaker had said up to this point. About me and Sombra, and about working for Talon against my will. The point of saying those things was to anger me, and it worked. But why? Why was she trying to make me mad? Were these supposed to test my mental stability? Maybe I read too deep into it. Maybe she just enjoys watching me suffer like the sadistic person she is.

Once the dropship began to take off, Reaper turned to the pilot.

"ETA?" he said.

"About 0300 hours." the pilot replied. We left at 2300 hours, right on schedule. It would take about four hours to get to our destination.

The dropship had around twenty seats, more than enough for all of us. Aside from some idle chatter between the Talon soldiers, the trip was mostly silent. I didn't talk to anyone during the flight. Not even Sombra, whom I had grown accustomed to chatting with. During the flight, I stared long and hard at Widowmaker. She had blue skin and dark blue hair, and I knew for a fact that neither me nor the old Tobias didn't know anyone like that. But I swear I recognized her from somewhere; I just couldn't put my finger on it.

"Can't this dropship go any faster?" the soldier next to me suddenly said. Widowmaker looked at him with an aggravated glare. He immediately regretted his words. "Sorry." he said, trying to sound unapologetic. In reality, he was terrified. He did have a point though; I myself was somewhat annoyed with how long the journey would last. As I said before, I had no interest in conversing with the others, so there really wasn't anything to do. Before long, I found myself dozing off in my seat. The others didn't bother to wake me until we arrived.


	6. Chapter 6: Meet the Team (Flashback)

_We had arrived at Overwatch's headquarters right on schedule. Upon stepping out of the VTOL, I nearly gasped at what I saw. It was truly a sight to behold. The beautiful trees, the modern design of the buildings, everything. What captured my attention the most was the giant statue in the center. I gazed at it for some time, before feeling a hand on my shoulder._

 _"Recognize who that is?" Jack said with a smile. I looked at him, and back at the statue. Suddenly it clicked. My eyes went wide when I realized who it was. Jack chuckled at my surprise._

 _"Could be you, one day." Jack said confidently._

 _"I bet you say that to all the new recruits." The sudden voice caught me and Jack off guard. We turned to the source of the voice, where we saw a man with black and gray combat gear and a black beanie, accompanied by two others._

 _"Still bitter, Gabe?" Jack said to the man, frowning. It was clear that there was some animosity between the two. He ignored Jack's question and approached me._

 _"So you're the new recruit." he said. I nodded slowly._

 _"The name's Gabriel Reyes, commander of Blackwatch." he said while holding out his hand for a handshake. He seemed less inviting and certainly more serious than Jack was._

 _"Good to meet you, Commander Reyes." I said while shaking his hand. "If I may, can I ask what Blackwatch is?"_

 _"Blackwatch is the official black ops division of Overwatch. We do the dirty work that the public doesn't want to see. We more or less get the job done when it counts." Gabriel said. He glanced over at Jack during the last part of his sentence, prompting an eye roll from him. I thought about his explanation of Blackwatch for a bit._ A black ops organization that does most of the dirty work, _I thought to myself._ Interesting. _The two soldiers who accompanied Gabriel approached me to introduce themselves. The first to introduce themselves was an older Egyptian woman._

 _"Good to meet you, Tobias. My name is Ana Amari, second-in-command of Overwatch." she said, while shaking my hand. The other soldier introduced himself immediately afterwards._

"Bonjour, _Tobias. My name is Gérard Lacroix. I spearhead anti-Talon operations here at Overwatch." he said. I had heard of Talon before; they were supposedly an elite terrorist organization who frequently clashed with Overwatch._

 _"It's an honor to meet you both." I said._

 _"I hope you aren't tired of meeting people yet, Tobias." Jack said. "Once we head inside, there'll be many more introductions." He motioned his head towards the main building and began walking, prompting us to follow. As we walked by Jack's statue, I saw Gabriel look up at the statue and let out a sigh._

 _Once we walked inside the main building, we were led into a large laboratory type room. A large gorilla with glasses was off to the side, distracted with technology way beyond my comprehension. Once he noticed us walk in, his eyes lit up and he walked over to greet us._

 _"Good to see you guys again!" he said with a smile. Everyone seemed happy to see him, except for Gabriel, who maintained a disinterested frown. The gorilla's attention was directed to me._

 _"Ah, you must be the new recruit." he said while shaking my hand. "My name is Winston. It's a pleasure to meet you." I smiled while shaking his hand, but I had a noticeable look of confusion on my face._

 _"Yes, I know what you're thinking." Winston said. "I know it's not everyday you see a talking gorilla. I'll explain some other time." he said. I chuckled in response._

 _"Hey, is that the new guy?" a peppy British voice suddenly called out. I looked towards the source of the voice to find a woman with short, spiky hair and some strange glowing device on her chest. She was accompanied by a taller woman with long, blonde hair and a lab coat. Jack chuckled at her upbeat attitude._

 _"Yes, Lena. This is Tobias." Jack said, introducing me. She ran up to me to greet herself._

 _"Wicked! The name's Lena Oxton!" she said, giving a two fingered salute. I laughed at her cheeriness and held out my hand for a handshake._

 _"Good to meet you. The name's Tobias." I said._

 _"Tobias…that's a funny name!" she said before giggling. Normally I'd be upset if someone made fun of my name, but her upbeat demeanor made it hard for me to be mad._

 _"Ah, I'm just messin' with ya, love." she said, patting me on the shoulder. She looked towards the taller blonde woman, who also began to introduce herself._

 _"Hello there, Tobias." she said calmly. "My name is Angela Ziegler. You may call me Angela, or Dr. Ziegler, whatever you feel comfortable with. If you are ever injured or have any other concerns, you may come see me." Her calm and reassuring attitude made most doubt about joining Overwatch dissipate._

 _"So, Lena." Jack began. "Have you considered active duty?" Lena's eyes widened._

 _"You're tellin' me I can become an Overwatch agent?" Lena said excitedly._

 _"Absolutely." Jack said confidently. Winston also spoke on the matter._

 _"We think you would make a great addition to the team." he said. "Plus, with a few modifications to your chronal accelerator, you'll be able to utilize special time manipulating abilities on the battlefield."_

 _"Plus, you've told me about how you'd like to make a difference, about how you'd like to fight for the world. Here's your opportunity." Jack said. "So what do you say?" Lena's excitement was through the roof.  
_

 _"I would love to be an Overwatch agent!" she said. Jack laughed at her enthusiasm._

 _"Excellent. You will have to undergo training, however. You've only had training as a pilot so far." he said, before looking at me. "Tobias has had military training, so maybe he could give you some pointers."_

 _"Sounds good, sir!" Lena said._

 _"I believe Winston had some modifications to make on your chronal accelerator." Jack said. "As for you, Tobias, I'd like to take on a tour of the Overwatch headquarters, so that you know where you're going when you're here." I nodded in acknowledgement. I bid farewell to Lena, Angela, and Winston and followed Jack, Ana, and Gerard out of the building. Gabriel went off to do his own thing. He had barely smiled or showed any emotion throughout the time I was here. Eventually, my curiosity got the best of me._

 _"Can I ask you something?" I asked Jack._

 _"Sure, Tobias."_

 _"What's wrong with Gabriel?" I asked. Before Jack could respond, Ana responded._

 _"Gabriel is bitter over Jack's success." she said. "He believes he should be the leader of Overwatch and be given due credit. Jack's statue only added salt to the wound." I nodded in understanding. The obvious animosity between Jack and Gabriel became clear now._

 _The tour of the Overwatch headquarters lasted about an hour. When it ended, we were back where we started, where the VTOL first landed. At this point, Ana and Gerard left to do their own thing._

 _"So, how do you like Overwatch, Tobias?" Jack asked._

 _"It's quite different than what I'm used to." I said, referring to life back home in the military. "It's a lot more high-end. But I like it quite a bit." I said. Jack smiled, glad that Overwatch had gained my approval._

 _"Glad to hear it." he said. He checked his watch, and looked back at me. "It's about 1700 hours now. You have the rest of the day to yourself; whether you want to go to the practice range, get acquainted with your teammates, or relax, it's up to you. Food will be served at the mess hall in an hour. Everyone must report back to their quarters at 2300 hours. Your training will begin tomorrow at 0600 hours." I nodded. Jack smiled and patted me on the back._

 _"Welcome to Overwatch." he said, before walking off. I stood there for a moment. I hadn't been here at Overwatch for very long, and I'm already left to my own devices. Ultimately, I decided to go to the shooting range. Once I was there, I saw a man in a cowboy hat near the door, smoking a cigar. Just as I was about to walk in, he noticed me._

 _"Say, you're the new guy, aren't you?" he said. I looked at him and nodded. "What's your name again? Toby, or some shit like that?" His question ticked me off a little. I hated the name Toby._

 _"Tobias." I said sternly. He didn't seem to notice me get upset._

 _"Tobias, huh?" he said. "Yeah, you're the new guy. S'pose I should introduce myself. The name's Jesse McCree. Best shot in Overwatch." He tipped his hat towards me._

 _"Good to meet you, Jesse." I said. It was only when he introduced himself did I notice his all-black attire._

 _"Are you a member of Blackwatch?" I asked. Jesse chuckled._

 _"Heh, sure am." he said. He was silent for a few moments before he spoke up again. "Y'know, since you asked me about Blackwatch, I'm gonna go ahead and assume you know all about us." I nodded slowly. I understood Blackwatch's purpose at the very least, but not much about their specific operations. "Y'know, Blackwatch ain't too popular among everyone here. We're kinda short on members. So, if you wanna join Blackwatch, we'd like to have you aboard. Of course, you did just get here, so you'd need a bit more combat experience. Still, I've looked through the files Overwatch had on you, and Blackwatch could really use someone like you." I thought about what he said for a little bit._

 _"Why isn't Blackwatch very popular?" I asked._

 _"People here like to say that we're immoral, merciless, all that fun stuff." he responded. "Truth is, we just get our hands dirty when normal agents are too afraid to. All that shit about immorality, don't listen to it. It's nothin' but drivel."_

 _"Yeah, you tell him, Jesse." a voice called out behind me. I recognized the voice as Gabriel's. He walked up to me and put his arm around me. "Sorry, Tobias, but Blackwatch is too elite for you. Stick to the boy scouts, kid." he said as seriously as he could, before he and Jesse burst out laughing. I let out a nervous chuckle. Gabriel noticed my uneasiness._

 _"Hey, I'm just messin' with you kid." he said. I relaxed a little bit, but I was still somewhat confused. "What's wrong?" he asked me._

 _"Nothing, it's…it's just that-" I stammered before being cut off._

 _"I get it. I probably came off as a bit of a hardass when we first met. But I promise you, I'm not." he said as reassuringly as he could._

 _"Yeah, whatever." Jesse said. "Hardass is your middle name, Reyes."_

 _"Shut up, Jesse." Gabriel said, before they both starting laughing again. I laughed along with them._

 _"Jesse does have a point, though." Gabriel said. "Blackwatch could use someone like you. Don't listen to any of the shit talk that comes from Jack, or anyone like that."_

 _"Alright. I'll consider it." I said._

 _"Heh, that's what I like to hear." Gabriel said. At this point, both Gabriel and Jesse were patting me on the back. I appreciated the strong sense of camaraderie they gave off, which only made their offer more tempting. "But, like Jesse said, you only just joined Overwatch, so you'll need some actual combat training before I can recruit you. That being said, once you've had a few successful missions under your belt, the offer will be on the table." I smiled and nodded._

 _"Trust me, you'll like it at Blackwatch. You'll get along with us just fine." Jesse said. "Unless you're as good of a shot as me. Which I know you aren't, but if you were, then we'd have a problem." Once again, both Gabriel and Jesse laughed._

 _"Tobias here probably couldn't shoot a rock glued to the ground a few feet in front of him." Gabriel said, which only prompted more laughter. I laughed along with them, understanding that what he said was done in a joking sense, not to actually insult me. Still, I jabbed back at him._

 _"Piss off, Reyes. You probably couldn't do any better." I said._

 _"Excuse me?" he said. "You'd better watch your mouth before I put you in the dirt, kid." His words were spoken as seriously as possible, but I could tell he was trying not to laugh. I merely widened my eyes and mouthed the words "bring it". This only prompted more laughter from him._

 _"Heh, I like you already, kid." he said. "Well, I suppose the reason you're here is to practice shooting, so I'll leave you to it. Maybe Jesse here can give you some pointers. He wasn't lying when he said he was the best shot in Overwatch."_

 _"Aw, shucks, Reyes." Jesse said. "No need to compliment me." Gabriel smiled before he walked off._

 _"He's a hardass around everyone except Blackwatch." Jesse said. "Blackwatch is like a family to him. That's why he's so open around us. You don't see that kind of behavior from him otherwise." I nodded in understanding. "Just don't joke about Jack's statue, unless it's about how Jack doesn't deserve one, or how Gabriel_ does _deserve one. Otherwise you'll be crucified." The last part of his statement was said with a chuckle. He then motioned to the door to the shooting range. "C'mon, let's see how good of a shot you are." I nodded and walked through the door, with Jesse following me._

 _I thought for awhile about Gabriel's offer. Although Gabriel and Jesse's lighthearted jokes made the offer seem more inviting, I thought about Jesse's comments regarding Blackwatch's infamy. I was unsure about whether or not I should join when the opportunity presented itself._ Maybe I could ask Jack about it _, I thought to myself. Although Gabriel told me not to listen to any criticisms that came from Jack or anyone else, I knew an outsider's opinion would be beneficial. After all, I didn't have to decide right away. However, there was one thing I knew for sure._

 _It felt good to be a part of Overwatch._


	7. Chapter 7: Retaliation

"This is your pilot speaking, we will be arriving in approximately fifteen minutes."

The sudden voice startled me and pulled me and a few other soldiers back into consciousness. I wasn't the only person who thought sleep would be a good way to kill time. I merely jumped as my eyelids jolted open, but a few other men let out startled yells in response. I looked over at Sombra, who was snickering at us. The others glared at her and flipped her off, but I didn't care. Once again, my mind was going at high speeds, making time go by faster. It seems to do that a lot.

"Arriving in approximately five minutes."

The sudden voice made the other soldiers jump again.

"If you startle us like that one more fucking time I will cap your ass!" one of them yelled. Rather than talk over the speaker, the pilot looked back to respond.

"Then this ship will plummet into the ocean and you assholes can sleep with the fishes!" he yelled.

"Is that a threat?" the soldier yelled back. At this point, Sombra was nearly in tears laughing. Reaper, on the other hand, wasn't amused in the slightest. The shouting match between the two came to an abrupt halt when Reaper suddenly stood and glared at them both.

"Both of you. Shut up." he said with his distinctive gravelly voice. The pilot, terrified of Reaper's words, immediately went back to what he was doing. The soldier made the mistake of challenging Reaper's authority.

"Did you not just hear him?" he yelled. "That jackass just threatened to-"

"NOW." Reaper yelled. It was the first time I had ever heard him raise his voice. Hell, it might've even been the first time Widowmaker heard him raise his voice, as she was even taken aback. She had a look of surprise on her face; it was almost a look of fear. At this point, Sombra had stopped laughing as well. Aside from the sound of the dropship's engine, it was completely silent.

"Goddamn children..." I heard Reaper mutter under his breath. I, like everyone else, sat in silence. I began smiling to myself ever so slightly. _Nice to see a friendly team who can work well together_ , I thought to myself sarcastically. Eventually, I spoke up.

"So...what's the plan?" I said. "Do we just rush in there, guns blazing?" Reaper began to respond.

"If we act fast enough, then yes, that is what we'll be doing. That way, we'll catch them off guard-" he was cut off by the pilot's voice.

"Uh...sir?" he said.

"Shut up. I'm talking." Reaper said without even looking at him.

"Anyways..." he began. It was at this point that I noticed a faint beeping sound from the pilot's seat. As Reaper was talking, the pilot spoke up again, this time in a louder tone. At this point, the beeping had also grown louder.

"Sir, you really need to-" he was cut off by Reaper. This time, he looked back towards the pilot.

"Listen, if you don't shut up and...wait a minute..." he said, finally noticing the beeping. He quickly walked to the front of the dropship.

"Is that..." Reaper said. His indecisive statement was ultimately cut off.

 _ ***BOOM***_

A loud explosion rocked the whole ship, throwing half of us out of our seats. The beeping was now incredibly loud, signaling that the outer hull of the dropship was significantly damaged.

"That's what that damn beeping was...a missile lock-on!" one soldier yelled out.

"Did you forget to activate the cloaking mechanism, dipshit?" another soldier yelled out. The pilot was too frightened to respond.

" _Merde_...they knew we were coming." Widowmaker said.

"They knew we were coming..." Reaper said, echoing her statement. He looked towards me.

"Do you have anything to do with this, clone?" he said.

"Why the hell do you pin this shit on me?" I yelled. "I've had no way of contacting Overwatch whatsoever, so why do you think I'm responsible?"

"Perhaps when they attacked us, you passed the message along..." Reaper said. "Your distaste for Talon is quite apparent, after all."

"Or, maybe they looked through our files and relayed intel back to their headquarters!" I yelled. "Not every advantage Overwatch has over us is because of me! As a matter of fact, _none_ of them are because of me! Get it through your thick skull!" Rather than respond to me, he looked towards Widowmaker.

"I knew this clone project was a mistake." he said. "Our 'successful' test subject is quite disobedient, perhaps we should put it down." At this point, I was fuming at him. Somewhere along the way, he discovered that being called a clone or an "it" got under my skin. He was right, though; even I thought of myself like that. Still, it set me off.

"Did you just call me an 'it'?" I shouted. He chuckled ever so slightly.

"I'm not wrong, am I?" he said calmly.

"I'm still human, asshole." I said quietly. There was quite a bit of repressed rage in my voice.

"Last I checked, humans aren't born and raised in test tubes." he responded. I clenched my fists in anger. I was so close to unleashing my rage on him.

"I swear, I will fucking-" my threat was cut off by the sound of glass shattering. A bullet went through the front window of the dropship, killing the pilot instantly. A few more bullets came flying through the window, and within seconds, there was a storm of gunfire going through the window.

"The ship's going down!" one soldier yelled. "Someone get to the front and pilot this thing before we plummet into the ocean!"

"Fuck that, I'm not getting shot!" another soldier yelled. Reaper growled and turned into a gray cloud of smoke.

"What the hell…?" I muttered. I had never seen him do that before, so it caught me off guard. Nonetheless, I cared more about where the dropship would crash land. Reaper turned back to his normal self after his gray smoke form floated to the front. He was taking cover behind the control panel, reaching his hands up to the controls and attempting to blindly fly the dropship.

"We're gonna crash land! Brace for impact!" Reaper yelled. Within seconds, we crash landed. I crawled off of the dropship, dazed and blurry-eyed. Once I came to my senses, I saw that we were on a large freighter type ship. I looked up and saw the Overwatch logo, and that's when I realized we crash landed on the ammunition shipment we were supposed to attack. Reaper, Widowmaker, Sombra, and a few other soldiers crawled out of the dropship wreckage. A few soldiers were killed in the impact.

"Widowmaker, get to a higher position!" Reaper yelled. "Tobias and I will hold them off!" I rushed over to a dead soldier and grabbed his pulse rifle. Me and Reaper ducked behind a crate and opened fire on the Overwatch soldiers who were stationed on the ship. After picking off a few soldiers, Widowmaker fired a grappling hook at a ledge towards the back of the ship, near the ships control room. A group of soldiers rushed out of the control room to subdue her; however, she engaged in close combat with the soldiers. Her moves were fluid and graceful, incapacitating every soldier and emerging without a scratch. She equipped her sniper rifle and began picking off enemy soldiers. Reaper looked towards me.

"Get back to the dropship and call for a VTOL!" he yelled. After our argument on the dropship, following his orders was the last thing I wanted to do. But in this instance, I'd be an idiot to not follow his orders. I rushed back to the dropship and grabbed the dead pilot's earpiece.

"This is Tobias! We need a VTOL sent to our location immediately!" I was too focused on my task to notice that I was in full view of the enemy soldiers. Before I could regroup with Reaper, I felt a sharp pain in my right shoulder, and I looked over to see blood quickly leaking out of it. I tried my best to ignore it and rushed over to Reaper.

"Is a VTOL en route?" he asked.

"Yeah, I got a VTOL on the way, but I was shot in the shoulder." I replied. He ignored my statement about my shoulder wound. He probably didn't consider it worth his time.

"Only a few enemies left!" one soldier yelled. Reaper let out a subtle chuckle before leaping over his cover and rushing towards the remaining few soldiers. All of a sudden, red and black smoke engulfed his figure. He began spinning in circles, firing his two Hellfire shotguns rapidly.

"DIE! DIE! DIE!" he yelled as the remaining Overwatch soldiers were mercilessly gunned down. He casually walked back towards us. Widowmaker and Sombra grouped up with us.

"Great, now we're stranded on a boat. Good thinking, Gabe." Sombra said.

"Don't call me that." Reaper said angrily. _Gabe? Is that his real name?_ I thought quietly to myself. _Could it be…_ I cut myself off. If I were to ask him about it, now wouldn't be the time. Come to think of it, there probably won't ever be a good time. He'll probably shoot me if I ask. Maybe Sombra can tell me later.

"We're not stranded." I said. "A VTOL should be coming." Widowmaker glared at us.

"A VTOL? Why not another dropship?" she said.

"A VTOL will get us back to base in an hour, rather than three, or however long it took." Reaper said. "A dropship is unnecessary. We have fewer men now than we did when we left the base."

"No, Reaper, a dropship _is_ necessary." she said. "Dropships have larger cargo holds, which we need for the ammunition-" Reaper cut her off.

"This was an act of retaliation. We don't need to bring back any of this ammunition. We have ample resources." he said. Widowmaker wasn't having any of it. As the two were arguing, I walked over to Sombra, who was watching the argument unfold from a distance.

"Do they always argue?" I asked quietly.

"Occasionally." she responded. "Reaper has higher authority than Widowmaker, which has been the source of some tension." She sighed before continuing. "We need Akande back, _amigo_." I looked down at her, confused.

"Akande?" I asked.

"Akande Ogundimu." she responded. "One of Talon's leaders. You may know him as Doomfist." I nodded in understanding.

"You said you need him back." I said. "What happened to him?"

"He was imprisoned by Helix Security International after a run-in with Overwatch." she responded. "If anyone knows how to lead Talon, it's him. At least he can lead it better than Reaper. He certainly isn't as big of a _gilipollas_ as Reaper." I chuckled. I didn't know what _gilipollas_ meant, but I assumed it meant something along the lines of "asshole". I then remembered that Sombra referred to Reaper as "Gabe".

"Is Reaper's real name Gabe?" I asked, again quietly. Reaper and Widowmaker were yelling at each other, but I still did not want them to hear me.

" _Sí_." she said. "Gabriel Reyes." I froze and went silent. My eyes widened as I stared at Reaper, now in a completely different way. I thought about the Gabriel I saw during the dream I had on the way here. Sombra noticed my shock at this revelation.

"Tobias?" she said. I didn't respond. "You okay, _amigo_?" She waved her hand in front of my face, finally snapping me out of my trance.

"Sorry…" I muttered. She sighed and looked back at Reaper. "So he didn't die…" Sombra nodded in acknowledgement. "But…"

" _Qué_?" Sombra said curiously.

"What the hell happened to him?" I finally said.

"Can't tell you for sure." she said. "I've looked through all of Talon's files, but I couldn't find anything on…well, what he is. Clearly there's a inhuman element. According to the info that _does_ exist on him, his cells rapidly degrade and regenerate, which apparently gives him the ability to turn into a black mist and float around like a ghost. Again, I don't know for sure. All I know is that both Overwatch intel and Talon intel list Gabriel Reyes and Reaper as two different people. Both list Gabriel as dead, even though we both know that's not true. Basically, in short, everyone thought Gabriel died in the Overwatch HQ explosion, as that's what's officially listed by Overwatch, Talon, and the UN. In reality, he survived, and now he's Reaper. What happened in between is beyond me. No intel on it seems to exist. And you know me, _amigo_ ; if it exists digitally, I can hack it." I chuckled at her last statement, while still in minor shock over finding out the truth behind Reaper's identity.

"I wonder if Jack survived too…" I said quietly. Sombra didn't hear me.

"Obviously, you know that you shouldn't call him Gabe." she said. "He was lenient with me. If you call him Gabe, he'll probably kill you on the spot. Especially after your little…argument." I knew she was referring to me and Reaper's argument on the dropship.

Reaper and Widowmaker's argument continued for some time. During this time, me and Sombra sat down, while the surviving soldiers awkwardly stood around. Sombra pulled up a small screen with her long fingernails. "Take a look." She showed me files on Doomfist, regarding his past, rise to power, that kind of thing. Eventually, I got bored of reading up on him, and Sombra could tell. She then showed me security footage of Reaper yelling at Talon soldiers in an attempt to entertain us to pass the time. Some of the footage was kinda funny, but we didn't want Reaper to hear us, so we had to try our best to not let out more than a few chuckles.

"How do you have access to all this?" I asked.

"Haven't you heard? I'm the best hacker there is, _amigo_." she responded. "Of course, it helps that Talon gave me access to their database. _Perdedores_."

After some time had passed, I looked behind me to see the VTOL flying towards us. At this point, the argument had died down somewhat, but they were still in a disagreement, and both were obviously frustrated.

"Hey, the VTOL's almost here." I said. Both of them didn't notice me.

"Hey…HEY!" I shouted. They finally turned their attention to me. "The VTOL is here. Stop arguing and pay attention!"

"Well, it's too late to call a dropship now." Reaper said. I imagined him having a sly smirk under his mask. Widowmaker sighed and walked towards where the VTOL was set to land. We boarded the VTOL and took off, leaving the damaged ship behind, along with the bodies of everyone who was aboard. Killing everyone on the shipment and leaving the actual cargo untouched sent a message to Overwatch that it wasn't an attack for the sake of stealing supplies, but rather an act of vengeance after their attack on the Talon base. An act of vengeance that I wish I was never a part of.

The ride back to the base was mostly silent, except for when Reaper spoke up.

"No survivors…perhaps you aren't a traitor." Reaper said. "I'll still be keeping a close eye on you, clone." I glared at him, before sighing and looking at the ground, like I had been up until that point. The rest of the ride was completely silent.

God, I hate Talon.


	8. Chapter 8: Sparrow

About a month had passed since my first mission with Talon. I had grown a bit more acquainted with my Talon teammates, but not much is different; Widowmaker still liked to toy with me, while I watched her from afar and endlessly questioned why I somehow recognized her. Sombra remained the only person I enjoy talking to, as her lighthearted and carefree attitude eased some of my stress. Yet there's something…off about her, like she's hiding something. It's not just because she hacks and blackmails professionally for a living, either. _I suppose it doesn't matter, I don't have anything to hide, anything that could be used to blackmail me_ , I thought to myself. And as for Reaper, he still seemed like he wanted to rip my head off. His comments about me being a clone only made the feeling reciprocal. Despite all this, some of the trust issues between me and Talon dissipated slightly, at least when it came to their trust of me. The security cameras in my room were removed, and I had the freedom to do what I want around the base, aside from when I was assigned to go on missions. Usually, I just trained in the firing range or ate in the mess hall. The thought of going rogue almost never left my mind, yet I felt something holding me back. Something in my mind is telling me to wait until the time is right…but when will that time be? I have no way of knowing.

Speaking of missions, every mission I went on was with a team; occasionally with Reaper, Widowmaker, or Sombra, but usually it was with a group of infantry soldiers. I was never sent on solo missions; I was always accompanied with these soldiers to ensure that I won't go rogue. That had eventually changed.

"Hey, get up, _perezoso perdedor_." Sombra said after opening the door to find me laying on my bed, staring into space.

"What do you want?" I asked, slightly agitated that she barged in without knocking.

"Widowmaker and Reaper want to see you in the laboratory wing." she said.

"Why?" I asked.

"Hell if I know." she said. With that, I got up and left my room. I almost never visited the laboratory wing of the base, as I never had the need to be there. I had only been there three times; it was where I woke up for the first time. I can't even remember why I visited it the other two times; it's most likely of no importance, anyway. Once I had arrived, Widowmaker, Reaper, and a few other scientists.

"Glad you're here, _chérie_." Widowmaker said. _Yeah, sure you are_ , I thought to myself sarcastically. "Sit down. We have something to discuss." I sat down across from Widowmaker and the others.

"So, why am I here?" I asked.

"We've been evaluating your mission performance." she said. "And I think you're ready to start doing what we intended for you to do." A sly smirk slowly grew on her face. "We created you to serve a specific role here in Talon, and that's eliminating surviving Overwatch agents. Not just volunteer infantry, we're talking elite agents. You know, the ones Tobias got acquainted with." At that point, I knew what was going on. They wanted me to hunt down and eliminate surviving Overwatch agents; that's the reason they created me, the role they intended for me to fill at Talon.

"I…I-" I stammered before being cut off.

"What's the matter, Tobias?" she asked. I knew I couldn't win. I had no choice; I had to follow her orders. I sighed before responding.

"…nothing." I said. "Nothing's wrong."

"No, something is wrong." she said. "You don't want to kill Tobias' teammates. Unfortunately, you don't have a choice, do you Tobias?"

"I'm not the real Tobias." I muttered under my breath. "I'm my own person." Widowmaker laughed.

"That's where you're wrong." she said. "You seem to forget that you're a clone. You're the exact same person. Granted, you're two different individuals, you just happen to be exactly the same. Perhaps I should refer to you as 54, then?" She stared at the barcode tattoo on my right arm. _1229-0054…_ the numbers played out through my head. I often found myself staring at the barcode, while forgetting the numbers are even there.

"Fine, I don't care…" I said. I did care, however; being called 54 would only make me feel more like some lab experiment than an actual person. Regardless, it was too late to go back now.

"Very well then, 54." she said with a smirk. "Your first target is former Blackwatch agent Genji Shimada." She pulled out a photo of him and pushed it across the table towards me. He looked different from how I remember. The picture showed Genji with silver and gray armor all over, and a helmet with a green visor. "Our spies have informed us that Genji is currently in his home country of Japan. We have a ship in the hangar that will take you near his location." I nodded at the information.

"So…this is my first solo mission?" I asked.

"Indeed, _chérie_." she said. "You may be wondering why we held this meeting in the laboratory wing." Again, I nodded. I was curious as to why we met here. Once I nodded, Reaper stood up and walked around the table towards me. I followed him with my eyes, until Widowmaker grabbed my chin and turned it towards her.

"Ignore him." she said sternly, while not letting go. "How can we keep track of you if you're alone?"

"I…uhhh…" I muttered. I didn't have an answer. Widowmaker chuckled at my confusion.

"That was what we call a rhetorical question, _imbécile_." she said. "Our scientists have a way to keep track of you." As she said that, I heard Reaper chuckle slightly behind me. Widowmaker hadn't let go of me once. Finally, I pulled my head away from her grip and looked towards Reaper. Before I knew what was going on, I felt something hit the back of my neck, which caused an electrical shock to travel the back of my neck. The force of the blow threw me onto the ground. Before I knew it, I was out cold.

I woke up on a steel table in a dimly lit room, not unlike the one I first woke up in around a month ago. I was surrounded by two scientists, and Widowmaker and Reaper were standing nearby. I noticed that Reaper was holding what appeared to be a shock baton.

"Did…did you knock me out with that?" I asked while looking at Reaper. He merely chuckled like he did before he knocked me out. "How long have I been out?" I asked.

"That's not important." Widowmaker said. "What _is_ important is that we can keep track of you now, 54." I looked at her, confused. She looked towards my right leg. "Look at the back of your calf." I did as she asked, and I noticed a small square indent on my lower calf, near my right foot.

"Is that a tracking device?" I asked nervously.

"Why, yes it is." she responded. I sat there in silence for some time. I was angry that Talon implanted me with a tracking chip, yet I understand why they did so.

"So you knocked me out so you could implant a tracking chip in my leg." I said. "Why didn't you just use anesthetic? Why did you have to beat me with a shock baton?"

"Budget cuts." Reaper said flatly. _Bullshit_ , I thought. _He just wanted an excuse to hurt me_.

"So, are you ready for your first solo mission, 54?" Widowmaker asked. I sighed quietly.

"As ready as I'll ever be." I said.

"Very well. Your ship is waiting in Hangar 2B." Widowmaker said. With that, I left the laboratory wing and made my way to the hangars. Just as I was about to enter, I heard Sombra run up behind me.

"So what'd they tell you, _amigo_?" she asked curiously.

"I'm going on my first solo mission to eliminate an Overwatch agent." I said, somewhat gloomily. When I looked at her, I saw her hiding something behind her back. "What's that?" I said while looking behind her.

"Oh, yeah! I found something!" she said. She gave me a worn down lever-action shotgun, that had tick marks on one side.

"What's this?" I asked.

"I found it laying around in storage." Sombra said. "I asked Reaper about it, and as it turns out, this was one of Tobias' favorite weapons. He had it on him when he was captured. I figured you'd want it." I observed it for some time. It was an intimidating looking weapon, that was for sure.

"Look at the other side." she said. I flipped it around and saw the word "havoc" carved in.

"Havoc?" I said. "What does that mean?"

"It means destruction, or chaos-"

"No, Sombra, I know what the word means. I'm asking why it's carved on the side."

"I don't know." she replied. "That's probably what he named it. It's not the worst name in the world. At least it's fitting; I mean, I wouldn't want to be staring down it's barrel."

"Huh…" I said. "Okay, thanks."

"No problem, Tobias." she said happily.

"It's not Tobias, it's 54 now." I said, somewhat sarcastically. Sombra looked at me confused. "Me and Widowmaker had a disagreement. Long story short, she knows that I'm frustrated over being a clone of Tobias instead of my own unique person. So, she started calling me 54, referring to my…designation." I made a gesture towards my barcode tattoo.

"So…what do I call you?" Sombra asked.

"Y'know, at this point, I really don't care." I said after sighing.

"You're exactly the same as Tobias, and you're filling his shoes during his…absence." Sombra said. "So, I'll stick to Tobias." I shrugged.

"Whatever works." I said. We bid our farewells before I walked into Hangar 2B. I boarded the ship that was assigned to me. As the ship took off, I heard a voice over the ship's speakers. "Remember that you're being tracked." the voice said. I recognized the voice as Reaper's. "So don't try anything, clone." I sighed and sat in the front of the ship. It was on autopilot by default, so I had no need to pilot it manually.

The flight to Japan felt agonizingly long, mostly because I didn't take a nap on the ship like I usually do. I just couldn't sleep; mainly due to the mission I was forced to embark on. Eventually, the ship's AI informed me that I was to arrive at my destination in around 15 minutes. I loaded my sidearm and equipped it with a silencer, then loaded the "havoc" shotgun. I topped it off with a machete, which I figured I would need once I noticed the ship was landing in a thick forest area. Once I had landed, I had no idea where I was.

"Where am I?" I said to myself.

"The Kagawa Prefecture in Japan." Reaper said over the ship's speakers. "Walk east and you should find him." I was caught off guard by his voice.

"You're still listening?" I asked.

"Were you expected us not to?" he said. I couldn't see his face, but I could tell he was smirking. I pulled out my sidearm and shot the speakers. I didn't know whether or not he'd still be able to listen, but I didn't really care either.

I started walking east like he instructed, before I came across the ruins of what appeared to be some type of stone building. I walked inside with my sidearm in my hand, anticipating his arrival. It was incredibly dark, so I found it hard to find my way around. As I was about to walk out, I noticed a faint green glow in the darkness. I slowly walked towards it, before I heard a metallic voice.

"Another assassin…" it said. "Now I know how my brother feels." The source of the voice emerged from the shadows where the green glow was.

"Tobias…is that you?" it said. Eventually, the voice revealed himself to be Genji. I pointed my sidearm at him.

"I'm not the Tobias you know." I said flatly.

"Has Talon brainwashed you as well?" he said.

"No…" I said. "Let's just say that Talon's cloning project isn't a myth." I showed him the barcode tattoo on my arm, while still pointing my weapon at him.

"Interesting…I had a feeling you weren't the real Tobias anyway." Genji said. I gave him a confused look. "Tobias would rather give his life than work for Talon. That is why I assumed you were a victim of the neural conditioning that they have become…infamous for." What confused me was that Genji never equipped any of his weapons, despite having a gun pointed at him.

"Why don't you lower your weapon?" Genji said.

"Why should I?" I replied.

"Because I know you won't kill me." he said. I was taken aback by his words, mostly because he was right. "I can see it in your eyes. I can also sense that you don't want to work for Talon." Again, he was right. After a moment of hesitation, I lowered my weapon.

"You're right, Genji." I said. "I want to escape Talon, but something is holding me back."

"Your instincts are holding you back." he said. "Tobias had good instincts. You know deep down that if you go rogue now, things will only end bad for you." I slowly nodded. "Stay with Talon. You will escape them when the time is right. And believe me, you will know when that time comes."

"How do you know?" I said.

"Think back to Tobias' life." he said. "I don't mean to compliment myself, but every piece of advice I gave him helped him in the long run." I stood there silently for some time.

"Alright, Genj." I said. "I guess I'll be going now. Reaper's gonna give me endless shit for not killing you." I said with a slight smile.

"He probably won't care as much as you think he does." he said. "He wants to eliminate Overwatch agents himself." _Maybe that's another reason why he hates me_ , I thought. _He wants to hunt down Overwatch himself, but I'm doing it instead_.

"Could you do me one favor, Genj?" I said. "Tell the rest of Overwatch about my situation. About Tobias, the cloning project, and how I'm a Talon agent against my will." After a few moments of silence, Genji responded.

"Despite the recall, Overwatch's agents are scattered across the globe. It will be difficult to get the message out to them." he said. "I can certainly try. No guarantees, though."

"Thanks, Genj." I said. He nodded and bowed, before leaving the ruins and walking off into the forest. Before long, I was back at the dropship. As the dropship took off, a voice spoke up from the front of the ship.

"Thought you could block me out by shooting the speakers?" the voice said. Again, it was Reaper. "I see you're leaving. Have you eliminated Genji Shimada?"

"Nope." I said. "Too agile. Couldn't take him down. He escaped before long." Reaper let out a growl before he spoke up again.

"Return to base, clone." he said angrily. "Your failure will not go unpunished." I felt no need to respond. I wasn't nervous about any punishment that would come my away. I sat down and began to doze off. I was still anxious about being sent to eliminate other Overwatch agents. Regardless, it was easier to fall asleep knowing I didn't kill Genji, knowing that he understood my situation.


	9. Chapter 9: The First Mission (Flashback)

_"Well, I'll be damned!"_

 _Me and Jesse McCree were practicing in the firing range. He was amazed by my marksmanship. Obviously, I was nowhere near as good as him, but it was still well above average._

 _"Damn, you might just be better than me!" Jesse said. I looked at him, surprised._

 _"Really?" I said._

 _"Hah, of course not!" Jesse yelled. "You may be good, but you're no deadeye, unlike your's truly."_

 _"Get over yourself, cowboy." a metallic voice quietly muttered. I looked behind me to see a man with black hair who looked like he was almost completely robotic, sitting cross-legged as if he were meditating. His black and gray cybernetics along with his red eyes were fear inducing._ What happened to you? _I thought to myself._ You sure as hell don't look like someone I wanna mess with. _I stared nervously at him for a moment. I was too busy chatting with Jesse to even notice he was there._

 _"Oh, almost forgot." Jesse said. "This is Genji, newest member of Blackwatch."_

 _"I can introduce myself, cowboy." Genji said flatly. He stood up and held out his hand for a handshake. "My name is Genji Shimada. It is a pleasure to meet you." I hesitated for a moment before shaking his hand. Genji quickly noticed my uneasiness and sighed._

 _"I know exactly what you're thinking." he said. "I had a...violent confrontation with my brother. I won't go into the details as to why, but I will tell you that I was almost killed. Thanks to Overwatch's cyberneticists, I was given another chance to live, in exchange for my help with dismantling the Shimada clan from which I came. To them, these upgrades and modifications are a blessing. To me, they're a curse. People see me as some sort of monster, far from the human I once was." At that moment, I felt bad about feeling nervous around him._

 _"Oh..." I said quietly. "I'm sorry to hear that." Genji sighed again._

 _"You're not the only person to extend sympathy. It is appreciated." he said._

 _"Y'know, Genji," Jesse began. "I've introduced Tobias to Gabriel, and we're thinking of bringing him aboard once he's seen some combat." Genji's expression remained unchanged, at least from what I could tell. I could see very little of his face, anyway._

 _"If you do join Blackwatch, please do not end up like Jesse." Genji said. Jesse scoffed at his comment._

 _"I think you're just jealous over my shootin' skills, ninja boy." he said._

 _"I do not need a firearm to prove myself, cowboy." Genji said while walking up to the firing area. "Just my blade. Or, in this case, my shurikens." Three shurikens suddenly came out of his arm and flipped over to his fingers. "But, no matter the situation, there is one weapon that is always useful, that will always be with you, and it just so happens to be the strongest weapon you have." He looked over at the practice targets down range and closed his eyes. Jesse watched with a disinterested expression, while I watched closely and intently. After a few moments, he suddenly opened his eyes and quickly threw his shurikens down range towards three practice targets, hitting all three of them in the head. The way he threw them made it seem effortless. He then looked towards me._

 _"Your mind." he said. "That is your strongest weapon." Jesse chuckled and began to walk off._

 _"Whatever you say, ninja boy." he said. Genji glared at him. Jesse was clearly disinterested and dismissive of Genji's wisdom. On the other hand, I listened and carefully took in every word. I stared in awe at his abilities, but he didn't seem to notice._

 _"Tobias, when I say 'don't end up like Jesse', what I mean is don't be full of yourself. Yes, you should recognize your own strengths and embrace them. But with that comes the ability to see strength in others, and that should then be your main focus. You have great potential, if your performance here at the firing range proves anything." I smiled at his compliment._

 _"Thanks, Genji." I said. He nodded._

 _"Just remember what I told you." he said. "Your mind is your greatest weapon. Your instincts should be the first thing you rely on. Trust them, and have faith in them." I nodded. His words were full of wisdom, I found it impossible to merely brush them off like Jesse. At that moment, the door to the firing range burst open. The three of us immediately directed out attention to it. We saw Captain Amari with a concerned expression._

 _"You three, come with me." she said. We all followed her out. She led us to the hangars._

 _"We have reports of Talon transporting large amounts ammunition across Belgium." she said. "Larger amounts than usual. Immediate action is necessary. Jack sees this as an opportunity for you, Tobias, so you'll be coming with me to halt the shipment. Jesse and Genji are to come along as well. We can't pull it off as just a duo." Inside of the hangar, a dropship was waiting for us. Just as we were about to board, Gabriel and Gérard came running towards us._

 _"Where do you think you're going with my men, Ana?" Gabriel said._

 _"To fight Talon." Ana said. "I have as much authority over them as you do. Plus, Tobias isn't one of you."_

 _"Not yet, he isn't." Gabriel said. Ana looked towards me. She was about to speak to me, presumably about my possible future in Blackwatch, before Gérard spoke up._

 _"Allow me to come along, Ana." he said. "I lead anti-Talon operations, so I should lead this mission."_

 _"No, Gérard. Stay here." Ana said. "Amélie has been worried about you. You've embarked on a awful lot of missions lately, some of which you have returned from badly injured. Your wife is worried about your well-being. It would be best for both of you if you sat this one out."_

 _"But-" Gérard attempted to reason with her, but to no avail._

 _"No buts, Gérard." Ana said sternly. Gérard glared at Ana before turning around to leave. With that, we boarded the dropship. I was the last to climb aboard, and before I did, I felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned around and saw Gabriel looking at me._

 _"Don't screw this up, Tobias." he said. I nodded at him confidently before climbing aboard. In no time at all, we were up in the air. The ride was silent at first, before Ana finally spoke up._

 _"So, Tobias." she said. I looked at her in anticipation. "Are you thinking of joining Blackwatch? Gabriel seems to think so." Jesse answered for me._

 _"Yeah, we gave him the offer." he said. "Once he's had some combat experience, we think he'll be fit for Blackwatch duty."_

 _"Don't force him to if he doesn't want to." Ana said. "Hear that, Tobias? Don't let Gabe pressure you."_

 _"Hey, we aren't pressuring him." Jesse said. "If he wants to stick to just Overwatch, he's welcome to do so. I bet if he stuck with Overwatch, you could teach him a thing or two." His last statement was said while looking at Ana's rifle, which didn't even have a scope._

 _"Always the charmer, Jesse." Ana said._

 _"We will be arriving soon." Genji said. "What is the plan?"_

 _"We are best suited for stealth." Ana said. "The ammunition is being transported by trucks. I suggest we snipe the tires and eliminate the crew silently from a distance."_

 _"Silently?" Jesse said. "Sorry ma'am, but my trusty six-shooter here ain't fit for silencers." Ana glared at him._

 _"Then grab a silenced pistol." she said. "A true sharpshooter has versatility. I bet you can use more than just revolver, right?" Jesse groaned and grabbed a silenced pistol off the small gun rack on the dropship. "What about you, Genji?"_

 _"Shurikens make no noise." Genji said while equipping three shurikens like he had done before. I grabbed a silenced marksman rifle off of the gun rack. The dropship landed atop a hill, nearby a road in a valley._

 _"The trucks should come down this road in a few minutes." Ana said. "Stay low. Once they come by, fire at the tires. Try not to use more ammunition than you need to." Within minutes, three black trucks came down the road. Me, Jesse, and Genji looked towards Ana, who held up three fingers, then two, then one._

 _"Now!" Ana said. Me, Jesse, and Ana fired at the tires of the truck, causing them to skid to a stop. Once the drivers exited the trucks, Genji sprinted down the hill and silenced them with his shurikens. He looked up and nodded to us. We ran down the hill and met Genji near the trucks. Suddenly, a voice started to speak in my earpiece. I recognized it as Jack's._

 _"This is Morrison." he said. "How are you doing, Tobias?"_

 _"Good, so far." I said. "Three trucks are down."_

 _"Glad to hear it." he said. "Our radars are detecting more trucks coming down the road, so prepare yourselves." After he spoke, I heard another voice in the background, which I recognized as Lena's._

 _"Hey, how's the new guy doin'?" she said._

 _"Lena, what are you doing?" Jack replied. "Shouldn't you be training right now?"_

 _"Winston and Angie let me take a break." she said. "Gimme the earpiece for a sec." Jack hesitated for a second, before handing over the earpiece._

 _"Hey, Tobias! How you doin' in the field, love?" she said._

 _"Better than I thought I'd do." I said. Lena giggled at my comment._

 _"Well, you aren't done yet!" she said. "The radar says you've got three more lorries inbound!" We looked down the road and saw three more trucks coming our way. We took cover behind the first truck and waited. Once the three trucks reached us, they pulled over and got out._

 _"What the hell happened?" one of the drivers said. "Looks like the tires were shot. We need to report this back to HQ." Ana nodded at us and we revealed ourselves. Before the drivers could react, we swiftly eliminated them._

 _"Nice work!" Lena said excitedly. "Looks like there's one more group coming your way." We looked and saw the trucks. What we didn't notice was that a helicopter was also above them. Genji noticed it before the rest of us._

 _"The trucks appear to be guarded by air support." he said._

 _"Air support?" Ana said._

 _"A helicopter is flying above them." he responded. At this point, the helicopter was clearly visible and audible. All of a sudden, a missile was fired at us._

 _"GET DOWN!" Jesse yelled. It was too late, however; the missile hit one of the trucks, creating a large explosion and knocking us all in different directions. I had no idea where I was, as my vision was blinded by the smoke. I heard Ana speak over my earpiece, but it was hard to understand, presumably because her earpiece was damaged in the explosion._

 _"We're pinned down…helicopter…Genji and I…taking heavy fire…I don't…where McCree is…we need…" From that, I assumed that Ana and Genji were taking cover and were under heavy fire from the helicopter's guns. The smoke began to clear, and I saw Jesse laying on the ground with a leg wound. I ran over to him immediately._

 _"That doesn't look too good, Jesse!" I yelled over the sound of gunfire._

 _"Damn, you're right!" he said, while looking at his wounded leg. "Heh, I'll live."_

 _"Not if that copter sees you while you're out in the open!" I said. Suddenly, the helicopter turned towards us, and I could hear the sound of the helicopter's miniguns spinning up. I immediately picked up Jesse and dove for cover behind a destroyed truck. If I had took any longer to act, we both would've been torn to shreds. We didn't make it to cover completely unscathed, however; two bullets got me in the leg._

 _"Thanks for getting me out of there." Jesse said. He looked down toward my leg, which was turning crimson red and leaking large amounts of blood. "Looks like they got ya, partner!" I was too concerned with getting Jesse to cover to notice._

 _"Shit…heh, I'll live." I said, mocking Jesse's previous statement. The last three trucks had arrived by now, and the drivers were heavily armed._

 _"Taking…fire…both sides…" I heard Ana yell over my earpiece. I pulled out my sidearm and crawled out from cover. My aim was off, as I was trying to balance on my uninjured leg. I aimed for the pilot of the helicopter, but I couldn't get a clear shot. The helicopter then turned towards me, giving me a clear shot, but also putting my life in danger. I heard the helicopter's miniguns start to spin up, and at that point, I unloaded my clip into the front of the helicopter. I dove behind cover again, and prayed that I hit the pilot. Fortunately, my prayers were answered; I looked up and saw the helicopter spin out of control and crash into the ground. I ran towards the wreckage (as quickly as I could given my leg injury), when the co-pilot crawled out from the cockpit. He rushed me with a knife, but I was able to dodge his attacks and grab his knife. I stabbed him in the chest, before finishing him off with my sidearm. I limped towards the back of the helicopter, where an ammo cache had fallen out of the back. Inside, I found a small grenade launcher. I grabbed it and looked towards Jesse._

 _"Stay behind cover!" I yelled. He nodded and tried to tend to his wound. I limped around the wreckage towards where the drivers had Ana and Genji pinned down with gunfire. I felt my eyelids grow heavy and my strength dwindle from the blood loss, but I knew I had to land one good shot on the enemy in order to give Ana and Genji time to get the upper hand. With every ounce of strength I had, I aimed the grenade launcher and fired towards the drivers. I was out in the open, so the drivers noticed me before I fired. Thankfully, the grenade hit right as they aimed at me. The drivers were instantly killed._

 _"The enemies are down…" I spoke into my earpiece. The weakness from blood loss was audible in my voice. I saw Ana emerge from the smoke._

 _"That shot might've just saved our lives." Ana said. I gave a small smile, but I found it hard to keep my eyes open, let alone stand. "Are you okay?" she said urgently._

 _"I'm injured…my leg…" I said, before I collapsed onto the ground. As my consciousness faded, I heard Genji speak into his earpiece._

 _"This is Blackwatch agent Genji Shimada, requesting immediate evac at my location!" At that moment, I had finally passed out. I later woke up in a bright hospital room, with Angela sitting by my side, writing something down on a clipboard._

 _"What the hell…" I muttered. Angela perked up upon hearing my voice._

 _"Ah, good morning, Tobias!" she said. I finally came to my senses and looked around me. I was in a hospital bed with IV tubes in my arms and a heart monitor nearby, which displayed a steady heartbeat._

 _"What happened?" I asked._

 _"You passed out from blood loss. You're lucky to have made it out alive." she said. At that moment, the door swung open and a large group of people flooded in. Jack, Gabriel, Ana, Lena, Jesse, and Genji were all standing around me. Jack had a large smile on his face._

 _"Tobias, I don't think you know what you did." he asked. I grew somewhat nervous upon hearing that._

 _"Did I do something wrong?" I asked._

 _"Well, if saving lives is wrong, then yes." he said. "You saved Jesse's live when you brought him to cover, and you saved Ana's and Genji's when you launched that grenade at those drivers."_

 _"It's only your first Overwatch mission and you're already playing hero, huh?" Gabriel said. "Nice work."_

 _"Thanks for getting me out of that, Tobes." Jesse said._

 _"Tobes?" I said with a smile. "What the hell kind of name is that?"_

 _"Well, you get all mad when I call you Toby, so I'm goin' with Tobes instead." he said. I shook my head and he laughed._

 _"Seriously, though. Nice work back there." Ana said. I smiled and nodded._

 _"Good work out there, love!" Lena said._

 _"You're very skilled in the field, Tobias. Excellent work." Genji said. I smiled at all the compliments._

 _"Your leg injury will keep you out of combat for a while, though." Jack said. "It's more serious than it looks. Normally, you'd be unable to fight for around two months. But thanks to the advanced medical technology, we've shortened that to two weeks. Once you are back in action, we hope to see the same performance from you. Of course, I don't mean 'we hope you get severely injured again'." I laughed at his statement. "Alright, I suppose we should let you rest. C'mon, Lena. You've got training to do." She groaned._

 _"Aw, c'mon, Jack. I've been training all bloody day!" she said. "Tobias didn't have to train!"_

 _"He's already gone through extensive training in the U.S. military, so he didn't need extra training when he came here." Jack said. "You've only had pilot training, not actual training as a soldier or field agent. And you've got a long way to go, too." Lena groaned again. "Maybe if you didn't convince Winston and Angela to give you so many breaks, your training would be over faster." Lena sighed and began to walk out._

 _"See ya, Tobes." she said with a giggle before walking out. Jack and Angela followed her._

 _"We're right across the hall." Angela said. "Yell if you need anything." I nodded before she walked out. Now, it was just me, Gabriel, Genji, and Jesse._

 _"Looks like we've got another hero." Gabriel said. "Who knows? Maybe you really will get your own statue." I remembered what I was told about Gabriel's attitude towards Jack._

 _"You and that damn statue, Gabe." Jesse said,_

 _"Well, I'd like to think of Overwatch as the organization that gives due credit and recognition." Gabriel said, somewhat sarcastically._

 _"Jack's done a lot for the organization, y'know." Jesse said._

 _"And I hate to sound cocky, but I've done a lot too, probably even more!" Gabriel almost yelled. "What do you think, Tobias?" he said, looking towards me._

 _"Hey, leave me out of this." I said. "I'll be a neutral source, thank you very much."_

 _"You must clear your head, Commander Reyes." Genji said calmly. "Growing frustrated at someone else's success will not allow you to achieve your own." Gabriel sighed and ran a hand through his hair._

 _"Yeah, you're right." Gabriel said. Although he seemed calm now, I had a feeling his animosity would return in no time. He looked back towards me._

 _"Y'know, I'm considering giving you the official offer for Blackwatch here and now." he said. "We are short on men, so that's why I'm tempted to give you the offer. But A; I don't want to seem desperate, and B; this last mission could've very well been a fluke, and you aren't as skilled as it seems. Not saying that's true, but what I am saying is that you'll need a least a few more successful missions. You gotta be skeptical when you're in my position."_

 _"Alright." I said quietly. Gabriel and Genji walked out, leaving just me and Jesse._

 _"Well, 'spose I don't have any reason to stick around." Jesse said. "I need a smoke anyway. Folks don't take too kindly to cigars here. Thanks again for saving me."_

 _"No problem." I said, before he walked off. One successful mission, but I'm already injured and out of commission._

 _Off to a good start already._


	10. Chapter 10: Living Legend

I woke up to the sound of a quiet growl. When I came to my senses, I realized that the ship had landed back at the base. I looked up and saw Reaper glaring at me. As I began to stand up, Reaper punched me in the face, sending me to the ground.

"I told you there would be consequences, clone." he said angrily.

"Fuck you." I said quietly, which prompted Reaper to kick me in the stomach. I let out a painful groan, before he turned around and left. I laid there for a solid minute, before I got up on my feet and brushed myself off. When I got off the ship, I was greeted by Sombra and Widowmaker.

"Look's like you've experienced Reaper's brand of punishment firsthand, _amigo_." Sombra said.

"Yeah, it pretty much just amounts to him beating the shit out of me." I said.

"He is frustrated over your failure, but it is only a minor setback." Widowmaker said. "Genji's operations with Overwatch in it's current state have grown…infrequent. He tends to follow his own path. There are more important agents to worry about. Before you hunt down any more agents, however, we have a different task for you." Widowmaker looked down towards Sombra, prompting her to speak.

"You're going to be receiving intel from Los Muertos." Sombra said. "I used to be a member of Los Muertos, so I know what you're getting yourself into. I'd go on this mission myself, but Talon needs me here." She shot an angry glance towards Widowmaker, who rolled her eyes. "Anyways, you'll be meeting with a group of them at the Calaveras bar in Castillo, which isn't too far away from the city of Dorado. Members of Los Muertos wear phosphorescent paint, so that's how you'll recognize them. Just tell them you're a member of Talon and they should give you what you want."

"Alright. I'll get it done." I said. The fact that I wasn't sent to kill an Overwatch agent made me less reluctant.

"Remember, we're still tracking you." Widowmaker said. "Just in case you forgot."

"Oh, I haven't forgot." I said with a hint of agitation in my voice. Widowmaker walked off, leaving me and Sombra. I leaned over to her and glanced down at my leg.

"So…you think you could maybe…y'know…" I whispered. Sombra knew what I was referring to, and spoke before I could finish my somewhat indecisive statement.

"Sorry, _amigo_ , no can do." she said. "I'm the only one who can hack it, and Talon knows this. If they discover that the tracking device was suddenly shut down, I'll be in deep trouble; especially if you go rogue. And you can't just use the excuse that it malfunctioned; they'll never believe it. On top of that, I'm not betraying Talon." There was a hint of nervousness in her voice during her last statement, but I didn't say anything about it.

"Alright, fine." I said. "One more thing."

" _Qué_?" she said.

"Does the Calaveras bar have good drinks?" I asked. "The drinks here taste awful." Sombra laughed at my question.

"The drinks are good enough." she said. "If you're lucky, the Muertos boys might buy you a drink or two." I nodded and walked back to the ship. I heard Sombra's voice one more time.

"Tell them Sombra says _hola_!" she said. I gave her a thumbs up before sitting in the front seat.

"Set course for Castillo." I said.

" _Awaiting authorization…request authorized. Setting course for Castillo, Mexico._ " I figured the AI on the ship needed authorization from Talon's higher-ups before taking off, as to prevent unauthorized takeoffs. Within a few minutes, I was up in the air. The ride felt like it lasted forever. It wasn't an important mission, nor was it a very eventful one either, and I knew it going in. After some time went by, I landed near Castillo. It was the evening, and the sun was just beginning to set. The view was beautiful, but I had to focus on my mission. I lightly jogged to the bar and walked inside, where a group of three men were sitting at a bar. They were covered head to toe in phosphorescent paint, just like Sombra had informed me about. Once I walked in, their attention was drawn to me.

"Hey, you there." one of them began. "You the Talon guy we're supposed to meet?"

"Yes, I am." I said.

"About time you showed up, _amigo_." he said. "The names Manny. That's Carlos and Miguel." he said, pointing to the two others that accompanied him. "You'll be doing business with me. They don't speak English." I nodded and sat at the bar. Manny nodded towards the bartender, who poured a drink and gave it to me. Upon taking a drink, I tasted cola, instead of any sort of alcoholic beverage. _Oh well, no alcohol for me_ , I thought.

"So, do you have what I came for?" I asked.

"Gonna have to be more specific." Manny said.

"I was sent here to pick up some intel from Los Muertos." I said.

"Again, gonna have to be more specific." he said. I was starting to get annoyed.

"Talon didn't let me in on the specifics of what kind of intel." I said. "I don't have to be specific. You know damn well what I'm looking for." Manny laughed at my agitation.

"Chill, I'm just messin' with you, _amigo_." he said. He looked over to Miguel and nodded. Miguel pulled a small USB out of his pocket and handed it to me.

"Tell Reaper he owes us." Manny said. "Took a hell of a lot of manpower to get out hands on this." I chuckled, before analyzing the USB and putting it in my pocket.

"By the way, Sombra says hi." I said.

"Sombra?" Manny said, somewhat surprised. "I'm surprised that _chica_ is still alive."

"Why's that?" I asked.

"Sombra plays dangerous games." he said. "All that work she does puts her life in danger, sometimes more danger than we put ourselves in."

" _¿Quieres decir Sombra, el hacker?"_ Miguel asked.

" _Si_." Manny said. " _Ella todavía está viva_." Miguel looked genuinely surprised. We sat in silence for a few moments. All of a sudden, the door slammed open, and a man came stumbling inside. He had phosphorescent paint, signalling that he was a member of Los Muertos. He was covered in blood, and upon walking into the bar, he collapsed onto the floor. We all rushed to his aid.

"What happened, _amigo_?" Manny asked.

"That guy…" he said. "The grey hair, the red, white, blue…he's back…" After his somewhat vague statement, he lost consciousness.

" _Mierda_." Manny muttered under his breath.

"What was he talking about?" I asked.

"This guy with a red visor took out a group of our men down in Dorado." he said. "Apparently, he ain't done with us yet." Our discussion was interrupted by the sound of gunfire.

"We gotta get out of here!" Manny yelled. We ran outside and sprinted down the corridor to the right side of the bar.

"I've got you in my sights." I suddenly heard a voice call out. Upon hearing the voice, I sprinted faster, and Manny, Carlos, and Miguel began to lag behind. When I looked behind me, I saw the three get quickly gunned down with incredible accuracy. I turned around and ran up the steps, only to be tackled by the man they were talking about. He had a red, white, and blue jacket, with a red visor covering his face. I punched him in the face, knocking him off of me. I quickly stood up and ran to grab my silenced pistol, which had I lost once I was tackled onto the ground. I grabbed it and turned around to shoot the man, before he kicked me in the stomach and smacked me in the face with the stock of his pulse rifle. He put his foot on my head, so as to keep me on the ground.

"You're not going anywhere, Talon punk." he said. His voice sounded so familiar.

"Who are you?" I asked.

"None of your business." he said flatly. I pushed his foot off of me and quickly rolled to my feet. He had pointed his pulse rifle to shoot me, but I was more agile and got a shot off with my silenced pistol. I had hit him in the face, knocking his visor off. He was hunched over with his back towards me. There was a large "76" on his back.

"76…" I said. "But who are you _really_?" He stood up and looked at me angrily. Upon seeing his face, my heart stopped.

"Jack?" I yelled in disbelief. It was only then when he himself recognized who I was.

"Wait…Tobias?" he said, also in disbelief. "You're alive?" I did not respond. I was too in shock. "Why are you working for Talon?" After a few moments of silence, I finally responded.

"Well…long story short, I'm not Tobias." I said.

"Bullshit." Jack said flatly. "Don't tell me they brainwashed _you_."

"No, they didn't." I said. I pulled up my sleeve to reveal my barcode tattoo. Jack closely analyzed it, before looking back at me.

"I don't understand what you're showing me." he said. After a few more moments of silence, he spoke up again.

"Wait…you're not what I think you are…are you?" Jack said. "…a clone?" I slowly nodded. "Damn…I remember hearing rumors that Talon was experimenting with cloning, but I never thought they'd be successful, let alone use Tobias as their test subject."

"The future is now, I suppose." I said.

"Hang on." he said. "I have a question." His voice had a hint of suspicion in it. "Where's the real Tobias?"

"I…don't know." I said, somewhat guilty. "He's alive, but he's not conscious, and that's the way it's been for years. And I have no idea where he is. Talon won't tell me." My answer was followed by even more silence. _This is so damn awkward_ , I thought to myself.

"I'm clone 54. I'm only about 14 months old." I said. "I was grown in a lab. The aging process was hyper accelerated, so within a year's time, I had the body and mind of a late 20 year old. Thanks to Talon's technology, I'm exactly the same as Tobias mentally. I share all of his memories, his intelligience, knowledge, everything. The previous 53 clones were all failures, either due to disobedience, or some sort of genetic defect." Jack was taken aback by this information. After even _more_ silence, he spoke up.

"No…you're not exactly the same." he said. I looked at him, confused. "If you were exactly the same, you would've chosen death before agreeing to work for Talon. I know Tobias well enough to know that much is true."

"So…you're saying I'm different?" I said.

"Maybe…" Jack said. "Maybe they altered your DNA slightly. You look exactly like Tobias, but I'm willing to bet you're a bit different up here." he said while tapping his forehead.

"Huh…" I said quietly. "Maybe you have a point. I always hoped I'd be different in some way."

"Again, I don't know for sure." Jack said. "Obviously, I don't work for Talon. Everything I know about their experiments, I get from stolen intel." I sighed and looked away.

"I hope you know I'm not working for Talon willingly." I said.

"Well, if you're anything like Tobias, I know that much is true." Jack said. I chuckled slightly.

"So, are you with Overwatch?" I asked.

"No." he said, somewhat sternly. "When Overwatch fell, I thought it should've stayed that way. I still do think that. As for me, I'm fighting my own war. I'm trying to uncover the truth behind Overwatch's demise." 

"I thought it was because public opinion turned against them." I said.

"I know there's more to it." he said. "Why Overwatch really collapsed…that's what I want to know. Of course, it doesn't hurt to cleanse Dorado of Los Muertos scum. They're a cancer on that city."

"So you're doing hero work again…" I said. "Not as Jack Morrison, but…76?" I said, referring to the number on his back.

"Soldier: 76." he said. "Jack Morrison is dead. At least that's what the world thinks."

"The world thinks Gabriel Reyes is dead too." I said.

"Yeah, I thought so too. You work for him?" he asked.

"Yeah." I said. "Well, not that I want too. He's a real asshole." I said, which prompted Jack to laugh.

"That doesn't surprise me." he said. "Why don't you abandon Talon?"

"Two reasons." I said. "They implanted a tracking chip in my leg, so no matter where I go, they'll find me. And…my gut instinct is telling me to wait."

"Wait?" he said confused. "Until when?"

"That's the thing." I said. "I don't know. Something tells me I'll know when the time is right." Jack gave me a skeptical look. "I'll be free of Talon someday, but something is holding me back. I'll know when the time is right." Jack was still skeptical. "Yeah, I know it sounds strange. But I don't want to act too fast." Jack nodded slowly.

"What will you do when you abandon Talon?" Jack asked.

"I don't know exactly." I said. "Maybe join Overwatch…or whatever's left of it; that is, if they'll accept me. I know you probably won't approve, but it'll give me the chance to do some good for the world."

"I don't care what path you choose." he said. "I just trust you'll do the right thing."

"You sound like a dad." I said. Jack chuckled at my joke.

"In all seriousness, I know you'll make the right choice." he said. "Tobias would, and I know you will. You are a clone, after all. Despite that, you may be more different than you think."

"God, I hope." I said with a slight chuckle. I stood still and silently began thinking to myself. _So now, I guess I'm not really exactly the same,_ I thought. _Christ. Just when I think I understand everything, something else comes along and throws everything off balance. This is all so confusing._

Suddenly, I heard yelling in the distance. "76 is this way! Remember, dead or alive!"

"Damnit, it's the authorites!" Jack said urgently. He put on his visor and picked up his pulse rifle. "I gotta get out of here. It'd probably be a good idea for you to get out as well." Before I could respond, he was sprinting away. I began to panic, as I had no idea where to run. My earpiece suddenly clicked on, catching me off guard. I forgot that I even had it on me.

" _Amigo_!" Sombra yelled into the earpiece. "See that yellow house? Go there!" I didn't take any time to question her demand. Once I had entered, I turned around and locked the doors. I noticed the room was dimly lit and had a purple glow to it.

"Welcome to my hacking den." she said. "Don't touch anything."

"I'm here. Now what?" I said.

"Sit down at the computer." she said. I walked over and sat down in front of multiple high tech monitors. Suddenly, the screen lit up with a purple skull, before a video of Sombra appeared.

"Hey, _amigo_." she said. "Do you have the intel?" I reached into my pocket and pulled out the USB. I thought about telling her what happened with 76 and the Los Muertos gang members, but I kept it a secret. "Nice work, Tobias. Head back to-" she was suddenly pushed to the side. Reaper came into view to talk to me.

"Excuse you, _idiota_." Sombra said, annoyed. Reaper ignored her.

"You got the intel, right?" Reaper asked.

"Yes I did." I said. "I'm about to head back to the ship-"

"Never mind that. We received word that an Overwatch agent is in Dorado at this very moment, which is only a mile or so away from your current location."

"Why would an Overwatch agent be in Dorado?" I asked.

"Vacation? It doesn't matter." Reaper said. "What matters is that we have the opportunity to eliminate an Overwatch agent, a particularly…important one, at that. Do you accept the mission offered to you?"

"Who is it?" I asked.

"Do you accept the mission offered to you?" Reaper repeated, somewhat angrily this time. He didn't seem to want to tell me who the target was, so I was hesitant.

"Yes, I do." I said. "Not like I have a choice." Reaper chuckled.

"You're right. You don't." he said. "Good luck. You'll need it. Your target will be quite difficult to take down. Reaper began to walk out. "Pull up an image of her." Sombra pulled up an image of my target, and when I saw who it was, my heart stopped. All of the memories of Tobias and this person flooded into my mind, and I immediately regretted saying yes. Sombra smirked at my surprise. "No…" I whispered to myself. "It can't be…"

Lena Oxton was my target.


	11. Chapter 11: The Test (Flashback)

_Two weeks have passed since my first mission with Overwatch. I had mostly recovered from my injuries at this point. Most of my time had been spent in my quarters, with the occasional visit to the firing range. I was laying in bed, staring at the ceiling. I had begun to grow somewhat impatient; I was ready to embark on more missions, yet I had not received any orders from Jack or Gabriel. My train of thought was interrupted by Lena walking in._

 _"Whatcha doin'?" she asked._

 _"Nothing." I said. "Pretty much what I've been doing for a while._

 _"Gettin' bored, love?" she asked. I nodded without hesitation. "Well, good news; I ran into Gabe outside the firing range. He wants to talk to you." I looked at her excitedly._

 _"Really?" I asked. She giggled and nodded._

 _"Follow me!" she said before fast walking outside. Once I got outside, Lena looked towards me and pointed towards the main building._

 _"I'll race ya, Tobias!" she said, before sprinting off. I rolled my eyes and sprinted after her at full speed. Once we got closer to the building, I began to gain the lead. Lena giggled ever so slightly before glowing blue and disappearing. I stopped in my tracks and looked around, shocked by what just happened._

 _"Lena?" I yelled, out of breath. Suddenly, she appeared near the door to the main building._

 _"I win!" she said, before giving a mock salute._

 _"Wh-what?" I breathlessly stuttered. "H-how…how the h-hell…" Lena giggled again at my surprise._

 _"Winston gave me an upgrade to my chronal accelerator." she said. "Now I can speed up or slow down my own time. I used that ability to blink forward towards the door. I made it first, so I win!" It took me awhile to take in her words. I glared at her, still out of breath._

 _"Cheater." I mumbled under my breath. She giggled and walked inside, and I followed. Gabriel was standing inside with his arms crossed, and he had a serious look on his face. Once he saw me, he smiled._

 _"Good to see you, Tobias." he said. "Follow me to my office." Once he began walking, I looked back towards Lena, who waved and blinked away. I followed Gabriel towards his office. As we were about to walk in, we were stopped by Jack._

 _"Where do you think you're going with Tobias, Gabriel?" he asked._

 _"My office." Gabriel said nonchalantly. He didn't even look at Jack._

 _"Because…?" Jack asked._

 _"None of your business, boy scout." Gabriel said. Jack glared at him, then looked towards me._

 _"Be careful, Tobias." he said with a slight smirk. Gabriel angrily glared at him._

 _"Watch it, Morrison." he said. Jack merely shrugged before walking off._

 _"Yeah,_ I'm _the asshole." Gabriel muttered. He led me into his office and sat me down. Gabriel sat behind his desk and began to speak._

 _"Alright, Tobias. Let's not waste any time." he said. "We been considering recruiting you into Blackwatch for some time now, and I think you've got what it takes. But, I'm not going to recruit you after completing just one mission. I have one mission for you to complete, and it's no walk in the park. But, if you complete it successfully, then I will recruit you into Blackwatch at your approval." I nodded in acknowledgement and he pulled out a folder. He opened it up and gave me a file with info on an omnic._

 _"This is Hashim." he said. "This bucket of bolts has been running Talon operations in South Africa for some time now. For the most part, he's been bringing a small group of elite Talon soldiers into villages; raiding, pillaging, and claiming them as his own. Any survivors are forced to work for Talon; typically, they're recruited as soldiers. Gérard has been trying to kill him for quite some time, but so far, he's been unsuccessful. These failures have only made the task of eliminating Hashim more difficult; with every failed attempt, Hashim brings in more Talon soldiers to protect him." I analyzed the file Gabriel gave me. A picture of Hashim was at the top left corner; he was a gray and black omnic with three red lights on his forehead in the shape of an upside down triangle. His record listed multiple criminal charges, including robbery, assault, and manslaughter._

 _"I know what you're thinking." Gabriel said. "Talon broke him out of prison and recruited him after he was found guilty of manslaughter. He's a sick bastard."_

 _"Talon recruited an omnic?" I asked. "So you're telling me they don't hate omnics?"_

 _"Only when it's convenient for them." he said. "Hashim is vicious, but loyal to a fault after he was broken out of prison." I kept analyzing the info that was given; 22 years of age, 5'11", birthplace unknown, highly dangerous, amped-up security, everything. "Glad you're looking over everything." he said. "A Blackwatch agent should be observant."_

 _"So I'm supposed to kill this guy?" I said._

 _"Correct." Gabriel said._

 _"How do I go about doing it?" I asked._

 _"Well, if this was an Overwatch operation, you would lead a full assault." he said. "But I'm considering this a Blackwatch operation, so you'll have to be quiet and stealthy about it. I'd recommend sniping from a distance. Not too exciting, but there's nothing wrong with simplicity." I nodded and folded the file before putting it in my pocket._

 _"Head down to the armory and grab your gear." Gabriel said. "A sniper rifle and a silenced sidearm should be enough. Afterwards, head to the hangar. An automated stealth dropship will take you near Hashim's location; which we believe to be an abandoned South African village." I nodded and began to walk out. Before I walked, Gabriel grabbed my shoulder and turned me around._

 _"I should remind you that this is a Blackwatch operation, Tobias." Gabriel said. "Stealth is your number one priority. The secrecy of Blackwatch will be jeopardized if you go loud at any time or get caught. On top of that, this is a classified, unsanctioned mission. No one outside of Blackwatch is to know about this mission. Not even Gérard. I know he spearheads anti-Talon operations, but that is not relevant to this mission. Understand?"_

 _"I understand, sir." I said. He gave a reassuring smile before letting me go._

 _"Good luck, Tobias." he said. "And don't screw this up." Before I walked out of the building, I was greeted by Jack and Lena._

 _"So what was that all about, Tobias?" Jack asked._

 _"With all due respect, sir, I'm not authorized to tell you." I said as politely as I could._

 _"C'mon, love, don't keep secrets!" Lena said. "Tell us! Are you getting a promotion?" I laughed._

 _"No, I'm not." I said. "Not yet, anyway."_

 _"What's going on, Tobias?" Jack said suspiciously. My heart began racing._

 _"I…uhhh…" I muttered nervously. Before I could continue, Gabriel approached us._

 _"Back off, boy scout." Gabriel said. "I assigned him a task to do for me. It's none of your business."_

 _"He's an Overwatch agent, Gabe." Jack said. "It_ is _my business."_

 _"Not this time." Gabe said. "Lena, go back to your training. Tobias, go do what I asked."_

 _"Aye aye, Commander Reyes!" Lena said before blinking off. After a moment of hesitation, I nodded and walked off. I stopped at the armory and grabbed a silenced sniper rifle and a silenced sidearm. Luckily, no one was at the armory at the time. I was too anxious to get going with my mission, and I didn't want to talk to anyone. As I walked towards the hangars, I could hear Gabriel and Jack shouting at each other. I sighed and walked to the stealth dropship assigned to me. I crawled up to the pilot seat, where the AI greeted me._

 _"Welcome, Tobias." it said. "Destination set. En route to South Africa." In a few minutes, we were up in the air. It only took a few hours to get to my destination, as the dropship was flying incredibly quickly. Still, it felt like it took forever. I landed in the middle of a thick forest type area. Gabriel spoke up over the dropship's speakers._

 _"This is a solo mission, so I'm not supposed to help you." he said. "But I do need to remind you of few things. Hashim's location is west of your current location, just so you know. Hashim is guarded by snipers on the buildings, so keep your eyes open and stay in cover. Finally, only kill other Talon soldiers if absolutely necessary. Hashim is your main focus. Reyes out."_

 _I began trudging westward. The whole time, my heart hadn't stopped racing due to my obvious nervousness. Being this nervous also brought up another problem:_ What if my uneasiness makes it hard to steady my rifle's aim? _It may seem trivial, but a lot is in jeopardy if I screw this mission up. After around five minutes of walking, I heard shouting; within another minute, the village came into view. I looked to the roofs and saw snipers overlooking the village, which prompted me to dive behind a large rock for cover._

 _"You Talon grunts need to step it the fuck up!" a voice shouted. "Especially you, officer. A unit of soldiers is only as good as their officer is, y'know. And your unit has been failing an awful lot of missions, it seems."_

 _"Please, Hashim, don't do this! I can improve-" the officer wasn't allowed to finish his pleas for mercy._

 _"That was your fucking excuse the past four times you fucked up." Hashim said. "You've had your second chances, but you blew it. Men, drop your arms and equip your knives. You must teach your officer that failure is not an option."_

 _"Wait…no, don't do this!" the officer yelled._

 _"KILL HIM!" Hashim yelled. I heard the officer yell out in pain a few times, before it was mostly silent. I can only assume that Hashim ordered the officer's men to stab him to death._ That's pretty brutal, _I thought to myself._ No wonder Talon recruited him.

 _"Are the hostages awake?" Hashim asked._

 _"Yes, sir." an unidentified soldier said. "We're trying to convince them to join Talon, but they're quite disobedient." Eventually, I saw Hashim walk outside. He was an omnic of average height, wearing a black tanktop with a machete on his back, cargo pants, and a holstered revolver. He walked up to four villagers, who were on their knees with their hands tied behind their backs._

 _"So I've been told you four men have been quite disobedient." Hashim said. "Why is that?"_

 _"Fuck you, omnic shithead." one of the men said._

 _"Watch your language." Hashim said sarcastically, before punching the man to the ground. "This village is under our control, and I'm in charge. Show some respect". the man remained silent, which prompted Hashim to kick him in the stomach._

 _"Oh, so_ now _you've got nothin' to say?" Hashim said angrily, before kicking him in the stomach again. As I watched Hashim from afar, I noticed the glint of a sniper rifle in the corner of my eye. Fearing the worst, I rolled to the side. Sure enough, a gunshot echoed throughout the village, and a bullet landed right where I was just laying a couple seconds before. I quickly pulled out my silenced sniper rifle and aimed for the enemy sniper. I was hidden by shrubbery, which obstructed my view somewhat, making it hard to aim precisely. Luckily, I managed to shoot the sniper directly in the head, despite my obscured vision._

 _"What the hell is going on?" Hashim yelled. A soldier ran up to him and pointed to the rooftop where the sniper was._

 _"Sir, there's an intruder." he said. "We don't know where he is, but our security has been compromised. We need to get you to safety." Hashim pulled out his revolver and quickly shot the four men in the head before running off. I silently cursed to myself for allowing Hashim to execute them. Hashim, along with three other soldiers, was jogging towards a building for safety. It was incredibly difficult to get a clear shot, especially since my vision was obscured and Hashim was now a moving target._ It's now or never, _I thought to myself. I aimed at Hashim, and right before he entered a building, I fired. I closed my eyes and prayed that I hit him._

 _"Hashim's been shot!" A soldier suddenly yelled. "Hashim's been hit in the neck! Hashim's down! I repeat, Hashim is down!" I opened my eyes and tried to get a good look at what was going on. I saw Hashim laying on the ground, motionless. The three lights on his forehead had dimmed. I let out a sigh of relief and crawled away from the shrubbery. I crouch walked for a bit, and once I knew I was a good distance away, I stood up and began sprinting back to the ship. I jumped aboard and sat in the pilot seat._

 _"You're back in the ship." Gabriel said over the speaker. "How'd it go?"_

 _"A success…mostly." I said. "I was spotted by one Talon sniper, so I had to take him down before he alerted anyone else. Hashim executed four hostages before I was able to get a clear shot." Gabriel sighed before speaking up._

 _"Well, I did say extra casualties only if absolutely necessary." he said. "This seems justified. Sounds like the mission is a success. Come back to HQ, agent." A smile grew on my face. I had gained the approval of both Jack and Gabriel, which seemed like a pretty good accomplishment to me. Within a few hours, I was back at HQ. Outside of the hangar, I saw Lena and Jack talking._

 _"Hiya, Tobias!" Lena exclaimed. Jack said nothing before walking towards me._

 _"I suppose your little mercenary mission went well." Jack said. I noticed he had a black eye._

 _"Yeah, but…what happened?" I asked._

 _"You can ask Gabe for the answer to that question." he said, unamused. "And yes, I figured out what Gabe asked you to do. If there's one thing I can agree with him on, it that this mission is to remain classified in Overwatch's logs." Jack began walking away, but he wasn't done speaking. "You'd better hope Gérard doesn't find out about this." he said with his back turned. Once Jack was gone, Lena sighed._

 _"I just wish those two could get along for once." she said._

 _"Me too." I said._

 _"So were you really sent to kill a high ranking Talon agent?" Lena asked._

 _"Yes, I was." I said with a smile, proud of my achievement._

 _"Maybe you should be a Blackwatch agent then!" Lena said. "They're not my kind of group, but hey, you seem cut out for it."_

 _"Funny thing is, that mission might get me recruited into Blackwatch." I said pridefully._

 _"Wow, I've been here much longer than you have and you're still making more progress!" Lena said, prompting me to laugh. "Good work, love!" I gave her a nod in acknowledgement. "Gabe's waiting the firing range, by the way." she said._

 _"Alright. Thanks." I said. Lena gave me a mock salute before blinking off. I fast walked to the firing range, eagerly awaited what was to come. When I walked in, Gabriel, Jesse, and Genji were there waiting for me._

 _"Well, your recruitment test was a success." Gabriel said. "And, I am a man of my word. So, Tobias, would you like to join Blackwatch?" I said yes without hesitation._

 _"That's what I like to hear." he said. He gave me my own set of black and red armor, which was emblazoned with the Blackwatch logo. Suddenly, Ana barged in._

 _"So you_ are _recruiting him!" Ana said. "We need Tobias as an Overwatch agent!"_

 _"Tobias doesn't need you guys. He'll get the dirty work done here, which is what he wants. Is that right, Tobias?"_

 _"I…uhhh…" I wasn't sure how to respond._

 _"Overwatch recruited him, he'll stay as an Overwatch agent." Ana said sternly. "Skills like his are needed at Overwatch, more so than at Blackwatch."_

 _"That's where you're wrong." Gabriel said. "We're taking him under our wing; he'll feel more welcome here." The argument between the two only escalated._ Holy shit, are they fighting over me? _I thought. After a minute, the argument finally ended._

 _"You know what? Tobias can do double duty." Gabriel said. "He can split his time between Overwatch and Blackwatch." Ana was silent for some time. Jesse nudged me and began whispering to me._

 _"They're fightin' over ya, partner." Jesse said. "You're one lucky guy." Finally, Ana spoke up._

 _"Fine." she said. "He can split his time between Overwatch and Blackwatch. Are you okay with this, Tobias?" I nodded. Ana sighed and walked out._

 _"Enjoy your little celebration." she said as she walked out._

 _"God, she's even more stubborn than Jack sometimes." Gabriel said. "So now you have Blackwatch armor, but there's one more thing I'd like to give you." He walked over to the gun rack and pulled out a long, lever-action shotgun._

 _"A Blackwatch agent needs the right tools to get the job done." Gabriel said. "I think this gun will suit you. One thing's for certain; this beauty here will wreak havoc on anyone who's unfortunate enough to be staring down it's barrel."_ Hmm…havoc, that's a good name for this gun, _I thought to myself._

 _"You've got some paperwork to fill out, but the initiation process is done." Gabriel said. Jesee and Genji patted me on the back, and Gabriel reached out his hand for a handshake._

 _"Welcome to Blackwatch."_


End file.
